On March 13, 2019 Miami Children’s Museum closed to the public due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and, like most other culture institutions, had to pivot quickly to virtual programming and outreach. The Museum at Home initiative provided original educational digital content for children, families, and educators remotely. A year into the pandemic Miami Children’s Museum had hit its virtual stride with over 400 digital posts reaching over 2 million people. By combining our knowledge of successful live virtual events and recognizing the growing resource needs of families, educators, and youth workers given the climate of politics, COVID-19, and racial inequity we developed Quarterly Conversations. Quarterly Conversations is a yearly four-part panel or speaker series in which we host a thoughtfully selected group of panelists, experts in their field, advocates, and those with lived experiences to share, discuss, and provide guidance on timely and often complex topics that families and children are facing on a day to day basis. We hope you’ll join us!
The history behind gender inequality goes back thousands of years. Gender inequality has shaped the division of labor both at home and in the workplace. It's particularly noticeable in a patriarchal society. A patriarchal society is one that has been created to put men in power. This power imbalance has inspired generations of people to question and advocate against the systems that support a patriarchal society. The term "glass ceiling" grew out of this movement.
Being with the child as an equal in the experience can allow for the adult to find the unexpected path or pearl of a moment that they haven’t found before. Because outcome is so important to adults, this practice of following the desire lines of children draws the artist into uncomfortable areas, places that feel out of control, elusive and vague.
Children as young as 6 months old begin to notice differences in skin color. As early as two they begin to prefer playmates of similar race and gender and as early as three, they are forming judgments about people based on racial differences. Check out this Quarterly Conversation where we speak with experts about how to encourage cross group friendships among children and how the benefits of developing diverse friendships creates resilient youth when faced with stereotypes and racism.
In the words of renowned child psychologist Jean Piaget "Play is the work of childhood." At Miami Children's Museum we know the power of play and in this series of our Quarterly Conversations. We explored the kind of play most parents and caregivers dread. Messy Play! Hosted by Play and Occupational Therapists to discuss how messy play contributes to social, cognitive, and creative development, as well as providing important opportunities to engage fully with children.
What does it mean to be an ally and how can we encourage more children and families to become allies against anti-LGBTQ+ language and bullying? How can we create safe spaces in our communities?We'll answer these questions and more in our third installment of our Quarterly Conversations series "Kids & Pride: How to be an Ally" with special guests from YES Institute.
Join Miami Children's Museum on Wednesday, December 15th, at 1pm via Zoom for World Holidays: Cultures, Traditions, and Acceptance, the first part of our new series Quarterly Conversations. We are proud to host panelists from Baptist Health, The University of Connecticut, Ft. Lauderdale FL Sunshine Cathedral, Honorary Consul of Sweden for Florida, and Temple Judea Gables for a discussion on why cultural traditions matter. We'll also navigate how to empower children to see diversity in religion, traditions, and celebrations as important and something that makes our community richer.
Join us for a dynamic and helpful resource panel focusing on LGBTQ+ youths, coming out, ways to create safe spaces, develop self pride and discover what available resources are out there. Panelists include representatives from Human Rights Campaign, Pridelines & Transocial, as well as parents and youths with lived LGBTQ+ experiences.
In December 2021 during a rare public advisory, the U.S. Surgeon General confirmed that the COVID pandemic has amplified the already critical mental health crisis of youth in America and declared it a national emergency. In response, Miami Children’s Museum is excited to announce that the next topic of our Quarterly Conversations will be “Coping with Uncertain Times: Helping Children Navigate Mental Health”. On March 16th @8pm we will host a thoughtfully selected group of panelists, experts in their field, to address the current youth mental health crisis, as well as offer guidance and resources on how to prepare and help young children deal with stress and take care of their mental health.