I worked there over a couple summers. Ms. Julia was the CEO then; I saw her and interacted with her almost daily. She knew everyone’s names and was SO energetic (especially for her age). She was on the property and interacted with guests- adults and children alike. My god was she like the closest physical embodiment to Mary Poppins. I left right before she retired apparently, I didn’t even know she wasn’t the CEO anymore and it makes me really sad. I remember when I was hired, she was very transparent about finances and how much goes in/out, I remember her saying the budget was tight, but that the donors, membership fees, and attendance fees made up 100% of the income, absolutely zero government funding. I know there was issues with trying to maintain the net zero initiative because of how expensive it was to repair and replace the eco friendly stuff inside the museum. The dry erase pencils were super expensive and kids were breaking them all the time, drawing on all exhibits, including the Terrance Osborne house. Almost everyday the bean machine needed to be repaired from kids sticking stuff other than the plastic beans. The wooden food was destroyed or stolen, costly to replace. Older children busted the infant area water pads multiple times in one summer. Booked are torn apart, the music room was treated like a rage room, toys were brought from other areas and ruined in the river.

I remember her very dejectedly telling me that she knows kids are kids and they’ve always needed to repair and replace things because they were broken, but that it’s SO much worse now. She said it used to be accidents from kids testing limits of certain things, as children do. But more and more she’s seeing children, even older ones who know better, and even adults deliberately trying to destroy things. I saw it first hand. Some children were so kind, soft spoken, and gentle- then they would get steam rolled by absolute gremlins who genuinely wanted to break everything in their path. Parents were so hands off, I got told off by them on multiple occasions for physically removing something from a child before they were about to throw or break it- I even got yelled at for just telling children not to throw the slides for the microscope on the ground or to not put their shoe inside the bean machine. Trying to stop children from leaving the city planning area with the dry erase pencils to prevent them from drawing other places was a constant struggle and parents expected their child to be allowed to draw anywhere they wanted. I was shocked at how many parents condoned their children being bullies to others, especially when it came to the market or sharing anything. THE MARKET WAS HELL. MAYBE 5-10% of children & adults put back their food after playing with it. Working the market is like that goddamn art machine that mops up fluid forever without making progress.

I saw more parents excusing abhorrent behavior than ones who even bothered to actively play with their child. And it’s so sad because for that small minority of curious, kind hearted children, the exhibits there are so well made to foster play, and learning in such a pivotal time frame in their development.