Ever since Andrew was born I have been anticipating the day I could take him to the Kendall Planetarium at OMSI. It's just one of those things to look forward to with the first kid. I've always thought I would wait until he was 5 or 6 to give it a try.
Yesterday, however, my friend Mara and I went to OMSI. We had a fabulous time. Mara left in the late morning but Andrew, Emily and I took advantage of the trip to see more of the science museum. (We usually go to the Children's Museum. Also fabulous.)
Mara hasn't taken her toddler to the planetarium either. But, we agreed it was worth a try since the tickets were included with admission. It couldn't hurt anything, right?
I did my due diligence as a parent at the ticket counter by asking the ticket guy if any of the shows were appropriate for a toddler. He recommended Cosmic Explorations. "Two for the 12:30 Cosmic Explorations, then," I said. Here's what happened:
Lights dim, projected stars appear on the ceiling. Andrew is a bit nervous but also curious.
Narrator's voice comes on. It's Robert Redford.
(Hi, Robert. Remember me? You waved at me on the ski lift at Sundance a few years back.)
Giant spinning rock appears in the middle of the screen.
Andrew: What's that?
Jen: It's an asteroid. (Robert announces that we are looking at a comet.) Oh, I mean it's a comet.
Andrew: Oh, is that a comet?
Large image of the Earth from space floats onto the screen.
Jen: That's the Earth. That's where we live.
Andrew: Oh, is that our Earth where we live?
Jen: Yeah.
And then, smack! The comet smashes into Planet Earth, shattering the comet--and my toddler's sense of security--into a million pieces. (It was an illustration of what happened eons ago and what just might happen again.)
Andrew grabs me and in a frightened voice says, "Mommy?" (He's never done that before.) Then he jumps on my lap and hugs me. (Hasn't done that before either.) He spends the rest of the time alternating between "I'm too scared for this" and "I want to get out of this place." I would have left but it wasn't too practical with Emily in the dark and Andrew didn't actually start crying. We survived and he seems to not be scarred.
In retrospect, I don't think the ticket guy has kids. I suggest waiting until age 5 or 6 for Cosmic Explorations.
But, I highly recommend the Science Playground (kids area) and many of the older age exhibits for the 3-year-old. I had to carry Andrew out to get him to leave the place.
4 comments:
Love this story! It made me laugh. It reminds me of taking my kids to the science museum and the IMAX movies.
Great post Jen! Very funny! Totally have gone through the same thing. Don't do the BUGS movie at the IMAX either -at least till they can handle a HUGE Mantis eating the pretty butterfly.
I have found most things on a BIG screen are a little much for my kids at that age. Poor little Andrew. I don't think he'll be scarred for life though.
Such begins the struggle of having boys. Brighton's been curious about tornadoes recently, but how much do I really want to tell my child about destruction and people's houses being ripped to shreds? Every tornado book has pictures of the after-effects. Brighton also likes dinosaurs so I turned on an episode of Prehistoric Park. One or two roars from T-Rex sent him out of the room.
We have an OMSI pass also and I've love to go with you sometime. :) Actually, though, Brighton likes to go to the other exhibits sometimes and the earthquake house is actually what started Brighton on his natural disaster kick. Earthquakes -> tornadoes -> now we're starting into hurricanes. *sigh*
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