“Our lives haven’t fundamentally changed: everything we used to do as a couple, we now do as a trio,” we used to say to those who inquired about our family’s daily life after the birth of our first child. Today, we do the same things as a family of four. Before having children, we lived a meaningful life full of culture, and we continue to do so with them, albeit in a more chaotic, noisy, and less predictable way. So here I will share my experience of consuming culture with young children (up to 3 years old) in Kaunas.
Our family’s choice to introduce our children to culture from an early age may seem unusual: we first took our son to an exhibition at the Kaunas Photography Gallery when he was just a month old. He slept quietly in his pram for some time and when he woke up, he was picked up and introduced to the photographs. After all, black and white photography is a great way to develop babies’ eyesight: newborn babies start out with poor vision, distinguishing between light and dark, and seeing contrasting images. So why not show black and white photos alongside the usual contrasting cards with baby pictures – my son was quite interested in looking at them. As he grew, we discovered new ways of looking at pictures in galleries: we looked for things he was interested in – cars, puppies, kittens… If you want to start introducing your little ones to the art of photography, Kaunas Photography Gallery is the perfect place to do it: a small, easily accessible exhibition space that can be navigated with a stroller. You won’t spend too much time there, just enough to enjoy the exhibition before your kids get bored.
We often go to the National Gallery of Art or the MO Museum in Vilnius, which are well suited for visiting with toddlers. We go to other exhibition spaces in Kaunas, for example, M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, Kaunas Picture Gallery, etc., more seldom because the stairs make it difficult to access them with a stroller, you must have a baby carrier. Stairs also pose challenges when attending events at the Kaunas Philharmonic, the Musical Theatre, and the Kaunas National Drama Theatre. One of the Dive into Theatre festival performances for children under five was held in the National Kaunas Drama Theater’s Rūta Hall on the fourth floor – not the most convenient location when you have to navigate stairs with babies and toddlers who are not yet steady walkers, or when managing two or more children on your own. The currently shown play Miške for toddlers is performed in a more convenient Education Hall, so I hope that performances for small children will not return to the higher floors.
In addition to the stairs, the timing of children’s events is also often inconvenient. Many of them take place during the kids’ nap time. If the child is not sensitive to the change in the rhythm of the day, to the missed break, or to the fact that he or she does not sleep at lunchtime at all, there is no problem. However, if you have a stable daily rhythm, you probably (like us) will not go to plays, concerts, ballet, or opera for children that take place between 12 and 3:00 p.m. (at the Musical Theatre, the Philharmonic). It’s a pity because events starting at 10 a.m. or 4 p.m. could attract a larger number of one- and two-year-olds. Perhaps it is thought that it is too early for children of this age to enjoy the performing arts. I couldn’t disagree more. We have taken our kids to plays and concerts since they were six months old. The plays for 6 to 36-month-olds are based on movement, interactivity, and play, with little or no dialogue, but there are elements of the performance and scenography that can be touched and played with at the end of the show. The actors’ facial expressions are expressive, and the dancing and movement on stage are gentle, so as not to frighten the little ones. These are the kinds of performances we take our children under the age of three to. I look forward to seeing performances in Kaunas brought by theaters like Dansema, No Shoes, and Pradžios. I was very happy that Šeiko Dance Theatre brought their performance Baltoji Lopšinė to Kaunas. Aura Dance Theatre also started creating pieces for the little ones. Since popular entertainment-focused content is introduced to children at kindergarten, I believe it is the parents’ responsibility to acquaint them with contemporary, experiential theatre and dance.
Those who visit museums with young children know all too well how one must ensure that the children don’t touch the exhibits. I’ve heard from other parents that in some museums, this is enforced in less-than-gentle ways by exhibition supervisors shouting at the children. Can such experiences make museum visits enjoyable? Do they make you want to return? Not really. On the other hand, museums are gradually changing, becoming more child friendly. There are now exhibit descriptions specifically tailored for children (e.g., at the House of Histories in Vilnius), replicas of exhibits that kids can freely touch, tap, sniff, and even taste if they feel like it. In Kaunas, you can have fun at the Children’s Literature Museum, the child-friendly Folk Music Department of the Kaunas City Museum, and the Tadas Ivanauskas Zoological Museum full of stuffed animals. Fortunately, in the adult-oriented museum halls in Kaunas, we didn’t encounter any grumpy staff. However, we also didn’t find other important features: toilets and sinks adapted for children, diaper-changing tables, or spaces suitable for breastfeeding. Until these are in place, we are left to build our muscles by changing babies in yoga poses in small restroom stalls.
It might be worth sharing experiences about the opportunities for moms and dads in Kaunas to enjoy cultural activities without having access to childcare – parents like us. Raising two little ones under the age of three, the number and type of events we attend have naturally shrunk: you can’t take kids to a punk rock concert at Lemmy Club – it’s too loud. Classical music concerts, theater, and dance performances are also off-limits, as children aren’t allowed (this is even stated in the rules for events at the Kaunas State Philharmonic). So, we attend outdoors concerts during the warmer months; we stand or sit further away from the sound equipment and put noise-canceling headphones on the kids. It would be great if Kaunas would follow the good example of Alytus: The Alytus House of Culture has a childcare room called Kultūriukas, where a babysitter looks after the little ones while the mums and dads are at the event. We would love to use this service in cultural venues in Kaunas!
I am glad that new initiatives for children and families with young children are being born in Kaunas too. The exceptional Kaunas modernism, which has received the European Cultural Heritage Label and recognized by UNESCO, is presented to children in exhibitions and books. We visited more than one Kaunas modernist building with Ekskursas guided tours and a baby in a carrier. Additionally, for the second year in a row, Kaunas hosted a unique and wonderful architecture festival for children. While adults in institutions debate whether architecture is or isn’t art, the youngest Kaunas residents already have the chance to experience it from all angles.
Šeimos kelionės community invites families with babies in strollers to join tours and activities in Kaunas city and its district. Here, you can truly feel comfortable and safe and enjoy culture together with your children without worrying about disturbing others.
From my childhood encounters with culture, I remember trips to Vilnius, to the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Lithuanian National Museum, and (the most anticipated part of the excursion) McDonald’s. I also remember a piece in a literature textbook about children staring at a fire hose box in a gallery and thinking it was a work of art. Culture during my childhood and teenage years felt distant and difficult to understand. But our two-year-old sometimes asks to watch ballet, wants to visit a museum, or see a play –that means we’re doing something right. It’s truly worth enjoying culture from birth, and that’s what I wish for you and your little ones.
