"BodyWorld" Inappropriate for 3.5 Year Old?

I've seen this display a couple of times, and I don't think that I would hesitate in taking my child, even when she was younger... However, I believe that this is very much an individual kind of question... You are the only one who knows how your children might react to something like this... If you have seen it, you know as well as I do that there is no gore and nothing really gross to be seen... It is very possible to miss the very upsetting parts of the display, without missing out on the whole thing. It is surely an opportunity to answer questions like "what's under my skin?" in a matter of fact and educational way... It's also a great opportunity, I think, to talk about the amazing design of the human body and how many parts of it work together to make it possible for us to walk, talk, hug, hold hands, think, and love!

As always, I think it is important that you empower yourself as the parent! Focus on whether or not you think this will be a growth experience for your child! If you think it will, there is nothing wrong with giving it a shot! You can certainly guage her responses when you get there and maybe show her the picture display outside the exhibit. If she seems interested, you could take her in. You and your husband would just have to be open to the flexibility driven by her. (Which means you may have driven there to enjoy the rest of the science center without seeing the body worlds display...)

The only thing I would look out for is the "I don't like it syndrome", which is something you hopefully fight hard against in teaching your kids to eat new and different foods. If you tell your child, "I don't like this but now you try it..." They aren't going to be too keen on eating it. But, if you let them make up their own minds, sometimes they'll agree with you and sometimes they won't.

I believe that is the essence of good parenting- exposing them to as much life as possible while keeping them safe, without poisoning them to things you don't care for (unless they are universally evil- like brussel sprouts and law breaking, lol).

Hopefully that made sense... It's awfully late and I should be sleeping!! :D

Huggles!!
~S.~

Maybe you could borrow a copy of Grey's Anatomy (not the tv show!) from the library or one of the other anatomy books that have clear plastic overlays of muscles and bones, etc, and judge by her response. My daughter is only 4 months old, but if she was 3 or 4 years old, I would not hesitate to take her. I think your reaction will direct your child's response. If you say wow,how cool, she'll probably be fascinated. Have fun! I'll be interested to see other mom's opinions.

Hi Angela,

You might want to consider that there are ethical issues involved here, too. The buzz in the academic community is that some of these corpses were not obtained legally, and that at least some may have come from Chinese executed prisoners who did not give consent to have their bodies used for this purpose (or any other).

Personally, I find the display reprehensible and have boycotted it for personal, scientific and religious reasons.

BTW, I'll bet there are some really good interactive websites you can find to look at with your daughter. For example, check out

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/elibrary/bodybook.html

This is a talking book that was created by 3rd graders. I'ts amazingly good, and not gory!

R.

R.

To my thinking, the only answer to your question is - it depends on the child, and even then, it probably depends on where that child is in development. At the age your kids are, my daughter would have taken the display matter of factly and not attached any scariness to it. Now that she's older, I'd have to think very seriously about whether she could deal with it. That said, she has seen anatomy books made for children, that show the various body parts, in their layers. So I guess I'd ask her how she felt about going to see actual bodies. I can imagine it would be a bit freaky for a kid. Fascinating too. I actually hadn't known about this exhibit and I want to tell my daughter about it and see if she wants to go.

I think it's very cool that your 3.5 year old is fascinated by the chicken drumstick. How children handle stuff like this depends greatly on how the adults in their life handle it. If your husband really really wants to go and take the kids, perhaps a bit of preparing would help. You could pick up an anatomy book and show it to your kids, talk about what's under our skin & how our bodies work. My daughter loved the book, which I got when she was in kindergarten.

Bringing a 2 year old to anything is always a wildcard. At that age, they just don't get why they should stand around looking at anything for very long; or if they are completely taken in by something they don't get why they should move on. I'd be less worried about how they'd handle it as I'd be worried about staying in the flow of the rest of the crowd. When we went to the earlier thing at the museum, it was so packed I couldn't believe it. My daughter was 5 or 6 -- it was that giant body thing. She was interested, but the boy who went with us was undone and had to be taken out of the room. I couldn't tell if his mom was expecting his reaction and was hoping it would work out or if she was surprised. You just never know. Maybe try to go at a less busy time, like a week day?

Whatever you do, have a good time, and be glad there's lots of other stuff to see at the museum and beautiful grounds to romp around in.

All the best,
Colleen

That has nightmares written all over it. My husband played a computer game with my daughter, who is 4, watching & she had nightmares for a couple of days about that "man" in the game. I recommend getting a sitter and having a "date" with your husband to go see the exhibit.

I saw the exhibit a few years ago in Los Angeles, and my husband saw it last week in Las Vegas. We both found it fascinating. I think that it's OK to take the child, esp. if you describe it to the child beforehand and the child expresses interest in seeing it. If you act calm about the experience, it's likely that your child will, too.

Regards,
Lynne E

my high school daughter just went and stated that this is not an exhibit for small kids. she saw several field trips of elementary school kids whom she felt were not mature enough to view this exhibit. my daughter is 17 and will be starting her pre med studies in sept.

ABSOLUTELY NOT OK FOR KIDS THAT AGE. I've seen the show a number of times and it's quite remarkable and distrubing at the same time. There are all sorts of exibits at the museum that are age appropriate, but unless you want to guarantee that your child has endless nightmares avoid this show until they 10 or so.

To tell you the truth I really believe that this may be a little to much for children to handle. My daughter is facinated by the human body and I have even bought her anatomy books that she herself picked up. I am very open with my daughter about death due to her father being in Iraq even with all that I think my daughter is to young for that exibit let alone at your kids age they are very inpresional at that age you may just get screaming nightmares. Especially when they do not understand death and life.

As a physical therapist who wanted to go to bodyworld to catch up on my anatomy, I must agree with you that I have heard that it has gone 50/50 with children. I personally dont think it is appropriate for children to possibly have this as their ammunition for nightmares.

Maybe show your child some pictures of the bodies and see how she responds and take it from there.

I recently took my 4-year old daughter. This is her second time to Body Worlds as she also went with me that last time Body Worlds came to town.

I think it all depends on how you set-up the visit. Yes, they are dead bodies, but I never told her that. I just said "Look, this is what lungs/hearts/muscles, etc look like..."

Also, when I was disturbed my some of the displays (like the fetuses) I tried my best not to show it on my face, but rather tried to keep things straightforward and age-appropriate.

I personally think it will be fine...it will just be up to you and your husband to phrase things appropriately.

Yes, I think it will be VERY disturbing to a young child-even to some adults. As a healthcare professional I had two anatomy dissection courses and I really think NO CHILD NO MATTER HOW CURIOUS (or how "gifted" her parents think she is) should see this exhibit.In fact, I really can't think of anything more inappropriate than this exhibit. How about getting some books at one of the children's bookstores to explain what is under her skin (Children's Book World on Pico or Storyopolis in Studio City). There are books like "How Things Work". The people behind the desk at children's book world are very helpful.

We took our DS when he was 2, he didn't really get it at that time, but it's definatly on our "MUST" do list now that it's back in town. My DS (now 4) has an accute interest in anatomy, a bit odd, but he does! His favorite book is a very grown up book about the body. He wants a model of the body and loves the (gross) organ toys out at Halloween. When we go the the Dr. and they have models of varous parts (like the lungs or inner ear) he asks very detailed questions about it. He wants to know everything about the body and how it works - I swear he'll be a Dr. someday! And he has a heart for it too, he loves people.

But like the other mom's say, it does depend on the child, some kids are senstive to strange things, ie. there was a child in his DC that got freaked out over a Thomas the Train Halloween DVD!

I am definitely not an expert but the one thing I would consider is that this information might only be scary or disturbing because of the meaning that we assign to it. For a child that has no context of pain and horror it could really be interesting and informative. Why not try checking out a book from the library about human anatomy, look at some pictures together, talk about them and see how she reacts ....

Maybe buy your daughter some books with pictures of the internal body and organs and see how she reacts. If she is intrigued further, then perhaps the exhibit will be appropriate for her. I don't think it can be deemed "inappropriate" just because some adults can't handle it. SOme of us are able to watch live surgeries on TV while others squirm at the mere thought of blood. There is nothing violent or subversive about the internal body and organs...it's just another part of nature and this incredible body we live in. I think nightmares are made of scary gruesome internal body shots, which this exhibit is not. Sure, it's not for everyone, but if she has no problems with pictures in a book then she may well be interested enough to not let it scare her. My own son is also highly interested in the human body and we read books every night about what happens "inside". He is four and has no problems with nightmares. I too think I will take him to this exhibit. Good luck! If all else fails, go with your gut.

Don't take your small children. We're going to go to the exhibition (I've been putting it off as long as possible) and we're not taking our son. Go with your gut feeling, you know what is best.
Best wishes,
C.