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GOOD
GRIEF, CHARLIE BROWN!
CREATIVE
DISCOVERY MUSEUM LOWERS FAMILY STRESS WITH THE OPENING OF
ITS SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER EXHIBIT “GOOD GRIEF!”
Let’s
face it, kids today are under tremendous stress! Whether it’s
struggling to achieve top grades or trying to fit in, vying
for attention with siblings at home or feeling left out of
a baseball game at the neighborhood playground, the pressures
on youngsters have narrowed the ever-shrinking definition
of success. Couple that with the barrage of aggressive and
sometimes violent media messages, is it any wonder that there’s
a rise in violence committed by even the youngest members
of our society?
With
an audience of over 218,000 parents and children each year,
Creative Discovery Museum knows first-hand how kids and families
feel and has taken steps to offer alternatives that relieve
them from this growing and damaging trend. In its summer blockbuster
exhibit, Good Grief!, the Museum uses the familiar world of
Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, and the rest of the PEANUTS gang
to help kids and their families understand that life goes
on even when things go wrong and that family, friends and
even pets can play an important role in providing security
and support. The exhibit is open until September 6.
“Recent
research underscores how over-pressured children are”
says Henry Schulson, Executive Director of the Creative Discovery
Museum. “But we are hearing a corollary issue: kids
are saying they are failures if they are not “Number
One,” whether at school, in sports or in the arts.”
The Museum’s
newest temporary exhibit, Good Grief!, uses the trials and
tribulations of Charlie Brown and his friends to help kids
see the hope and possibilities even if, like Charlie Brown,
they always lose at baseball or if like Peppermint Patty,
they don’t succeed in school.
Through
humor and games, Good Grief! helps children (and adults) develop
problem solving skills and leaves them with a heightened sense
of compassion and empathy. After all, navigating the road
of childhood is rough for kids and parents alike. In the exhibition,
both children and adults will feel a part of the PEANUTS Gang
as they experience Charlie Brown’s baseball frustrations,
fly kites to avoid the kite-eating tree and learn lessons
in cooperation while playing Schroeder’s piano. Additional
interactives such as the Peacemaker Game, created with students
from Manhattan’s Public School 87, are included in the
exhibition to explore varying perspectives, contemporary challenges
and conflicts in urban settings. Through these games and interactives,
kids come away from the exhibition recognizing that they are
not alone in their everyday disappointments.
Labels
in the exhibition encourage parents to recognize the stress
that kids live under and offer ways to support their children.
Good Grief! is an important touchstone for families that gives
them the opportunity to discuss with kids the common frustrations
and embarrassments associated with missing a fly ball or failing
a test. By developing skills to deal with such challenges,
parents can help to mitigate the potentially devastating impact
of daily frustrations on their kids.
Good Grief! opened Saturday, May 28, as part of the Museum’s
10th Birthday party. It was created by the Children’s
Museum of Manhattan as part of the 50th Anniversary celebration
of the PEANUTS comic strip. Good Grief! was created with the
gracious consent of Charles M. Schulz, and the cooperation
of Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates and United Media.
Good Grief! was developed by the Children’s Museum of
Manhattan with support from Target. The national tour of Good
Grief! is sponsored by Target, with the Chattanooga venue
at Creative Discovery Museum sponsored by McKee Foods, makers
of Little Debbie Snack cakes, Mohawk Industries and Sunny
92.3 FM.
About
Creative Discovery Museum: There’s always something
new to see and do at Creative Discovery Museum. Selected as
the best museum in Chattanooga by Family Fun magazine and
as one of the top 20 children’s museums in the nation
by Child magazine, this is one place you can’t miss.
We’re all about child’s play for kids from two
months to twelve years old. Kids can climb up to a crow’s
nest, dig for dinosaur bones, see how bees make honey, spray
jets of water to spin whirligigs, build cars, make a sculpture
and have FUN!
Tickets:
Adult admission is $7.95 and children’s admission
(ages 12 and under) is $6.95. Toddlers under 2 are admitted
free.
Hours:
Museum hours change according to the season. Creative Discovery
Museum is open all holidays except Thanksgiving and Christmas
Eve & Day.
Memorial Day to Labor Day: the Museum is open daily from 10
a.m. ET to 6 p.m. ET (last ticket is sold at 5 p.m. ET and
building closes at 6 p.m. ET).
Contact
the Museum at (423) 756-2738.
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