Last week I flew down to Florida to celebrate Mother’s Day with my 86-year old mother. The visit prompted me to think about recent findings on the critical role of mothers in nurturing their children’s interest in museums. I learned about this in April at the American Association of Museums Annual Meeting from Susie Wilkening at Reach Advisors, one of the country’s leading museum investigators.

Susie explained puzzling findings. Only a small percentage of mothers bring their children to all kinds of museum at all ages. (Reach Advisors calls these mothers “Museum Advocates.”) Most mothers take their children only to museums that they perceive as kid-friendly when their children are very young, typically children’s museums and zoos. They add in visits to outdoor history museums and science centers when the children are in late elementary years. They stop making visits to museums when they judge that kids are old enough to have other interests.

Susie wondered what made the difference in these groups of mothers. The demographic profiles for the groups were virtually identical; both included highly educated mothers. The only measurable difference was that Museum Advocate mothers were interested in museums themselves, while other mothers mostly went because it was good for the kids.

During her presentation, Susie and the small assembly of museum professionals threw out different hypotheses to explain the difference in behavior. Perhaps Museum Advocates had mothers who took them to museums. Perhaps Museum Advocates value learning more than others. Perhaps there are ethnic or cultural differences.

Because my mother made sure my brother and I visited all kinds of museums -- sometimes over-ruling our vetoes as uncooperative adolescents – I took the opportunity to begin my own research on mothers and museums during my visit.

“Why did you take us to museums?” I asked. She replied, “Because New York had some wonderful places and I wanted to expose you to things I hadn’t been exposed to growing up.” My mother, who grew up the youngest child of Romanian immigrants in Connecticut and who couldn’t afford college, wanted both my brother and I to have experiences and to know the world. She saw museums as a way toward that goal. “For me growing up,” she added, “my only resource was the library. I went all the time and read a lot.”

The other reason she took us to museums, she explained, “was because, I was interested in visiting myself…so was your father.”

My mother raised two children who became museum goers, readers and life-long learners. As a belated Mother’s Day appreciation, I offer thanks to my mother for seeing museums as a way to explore the world.

And, I’d like to ask everyone who reads this blog two questions:

1. How does your museum interest today relate to childhood experiences?
2. What was your mother’s attitude toward museums and why?

Your answers will help us better understand mothers’ roles in shaping their offsprings’ attitudes toward museums.