Betty Brinn Children’s Museum
Yesterday my son and I took the three Graf Kids, my grandchildren, to the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum in Milwaukee, an interactive display of activities geared for children five and under. It was lots of fun for all of us, not only for my granddaughter, age 4, but also for my two grandsons, 8 & 10, and for adults. All it took to enjoy this children’s museum was a child like spirit.
It takes so little for a child aged five or less to have fun. I was reminded of this fact of life today when we visited some families in need during our St. Vincent De Paul home visits and tonight when we, my wife and I, spent some time in the family section of a homeless shelter downtown. In all the situations the children did not have TV, video games or many toys, but they were full of joy and it was easy to get them laughing and playing carefree. Their parents were worried about finding a home or paying the rent but the children were free to enjoy the simplest tings in life, like a funny face.
I talked to one father at the shelter who knew that worrying did no good but still felt bad about his homeless situation. However, his five-year-old daughter had no such problem and came back to the main room to play with the children after their father had gone to their individual room. I encouraged the father in his job-seeking efforts but reluctantly told him about the high unemployment rate in Milwaukee, highest in the country, for African American men. At first he seemed a little taken aback but then he told me had come here from an Atlanta, a red state where they treated poor people with little or no respect. He had come here because he has a family support system here that he has realized over the years was essential for making it. I agreed with him and then told him that this feeling of everyone is related was one of the finer aspects of Milwaukee. People in Milwaukee can meet strangers and, like children, have a heart-to-heart conversation and share experiences with each other.
Milwaukee is child-like in a good way. We are called the city of festivals since we have so many of them, for every ethnic, religious or work group. So we in Milwaukee have the curse of having one of the largest unemployment rates for African American men, yet still have the ability to treat others with care, like in a small town where everyone knows everybody.
Comments
(:commentboxchrono:)