"Come and look Mummy, look what I created."

I followed him to the living area and saw this,

"Is this known as 'Mess on the floor'?" I asked him.

"No…It is a creation from long time ago, you are not suppose to touch it. Afterwards the people at the counter will scold you."

Then he added, "This is a creation at the museum and I am the artist, only I can touch it."

At least he has learnt the concept of installation art from the Singapore Art Museum. For a while I was starting to think that the only memorable thing that made any significant impact on him from our visits to the museum, is that people are not suppose touch most of the displays in the museum.

Having displays that children cannot touch at a children's exhibition is like putting a piece of cheese next to a mouse and expecting the mouse not to eat it. Maybe it might be better if they hire someone who has early childhood development background to plan the children's programme, and then save the money/effort on hiring people who will bark at the kids when their little hands reach towards the display.

It's interesting how a not so positive norm like, 'See but not touch' will be so memorable for a child. It's just like how negative experiences tend to be a lot more memorable for some us rather than the positive ones.

We are still light years behind for our local art exhibits for children. There were some improvement from the recent 'Children's Season' at SAM but until the day that they totally remove exhibits with the 'See but not touch' element, then it will be taken off my list of "Only if you ran out of places to go to in Singapore with your kids."