I know I've established that we like to go look at art. That's totally true. But why is that? Is it because we think it will make our children smart? Yeah, we actually do. It's good for them. Do they like it? Nope, not always. Sometimes they are annoyed or aggravated or 13 and it's just not what they want to do. But sometimes, like the other day, we were looking for something on the inexpensive side to do and it just so happens that the art museum at UGA is my favorite price, FREE.
Free for a family of six is like the best word ever.
There was a lot to see before we even got inside. Julia plunged her hands into the fountain, and slapped them against the wall shouting "ART! BEHOLD!" which was fairly entertaining.
What's it like to take two severely autistic 12 year olds to an art museum? Well, first I'd say you need to back up and know what you need to do first to be prepared FOR said Art Museum.
We pack a backpack everywhere we go with extra clothes, wipes (for face and butts in separate places) and diapers and some sundries. Museums don't always allow those, so you'll need to be prepared to check it. Before we do that and go in, we hit the bathrooms.
This place had huge clean restrooms that were lovely. We changed diapers and got everyone freshened up for our journey into culture and entertainment.
At that point, things are as good as they are going to get. The husband and I learned long ago that with kids it's nearly impossible to read all the little signs of info. At best we trade off one of us wrangling kids and one of us quickly reading the information placards on the pieces we are most interested in. Sometimes it's quiet enough that we can sit them on a bench and BOTH of us quickly read and try to absorb what we're seeing.
Sometimes you look over and see a moment, though, between siblings, that you might not have gotten at an amusment park or some loud "kid oriented" place. Every once in a while, you see that they're bonding and making their own memories and that's priceless to me.
Relatively good behavior was rewarded this day with a stroll in downtown Athens and a bit of Ben and Jerry's - which was amazing.
The best things in life aren't always free but on this day they were very close to it.
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