Melissa & Doug® opens first interactive play space gift shop ruthlessly honest and never say positive things just to make me happy and they took that to the extreme by rarely saying anything complimentary and only pointing out ways to make them better!” says Bernstein. “Playing with my children helps me understand the mindset of kids of all ages and truly absorb how to create better products that captivates their minds and possesses enduring play value. Many of my ideas came from watching them play and observing the play patterns that most engaged them, and also flaws in existing products that didn’t offer a profound experience.” Accepting our children for who they are “Doug and I are heartbroken that childhood used to be so much freer,” says Bernstein. “The advent of competition and achievement cultures, where our kids are judged by their scores and grades; the advent of technology; the creation of the playdate; fears of childhood abduction, has created a culture where parents are afraid of letting their children fail or to even have unscheduled time.” As she sees it parenting skills continue to decline. “Helicopter parenting has turned into snow plow parenting, which is much worse. Parents now get in front of their children chasing away obstacles and protecting them from the sting of failure. All of this is well intentioned but it works against the child. But I don’t want to sound preachy it’s so hard and I grapple with it every day.” Bernstein confesses to falling into the trap of pressing her children for high academic achievement. “I like to think that I didn’t put pressure on them, but I felt the pressure to do so deeply.” The irony of this is that while her four oldest children performed well in school and were academically inclined, her two youngest children, respectively in grade 6 and 8, are not traditional learners. Bernstein has had to consciously shift her parenting style and outlook to encourage their differences. “Life is about embracing who you are,” says Bernstein. “The world doesn’t herald kids who don’t do well in school or that fail. That is a shame because we are potentially stifling the ability and confidence of those who might be the visionaries.” Just let them play Bernstein’s two youngest children reinforced her feeling that all kids should be allowed more space and time to be curious, to imagine, and make discoveries in their own way. She feels strongly that the rote learning
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Westchester Family | November 2019
The Westchester Children’s Museum, located in Rye is partnering with the iconic toy company Melissa & Doug to open the first-of-its-kind experiential play space and gift shop. The unique partnership between the Museum and Melissa & Doug reflects their mutual missions to use openended, unstructured play to stimulate creative thinking and build problemsolving skills. The new 400-squarefoot Gift Shop at the Westchester Children’s Museum opens December 2019 in time for holiday shopping and is part of a larger expansion project that increases the Museum’s exhibit and program areas to 20,000 square feet. “Our new gift shop will be absolutely unique among museum gift shops in that it takes what is normally a souvenir-buying experience and transforms it into an extension of the interactive activities that make a children’s museum so fun,” says Leta Wong, operations manager and exhibit chair at the Westchester Children’s Museum. “We are excited to partner with Melissa & Doug in this new initiative because they share our belief in the power of play to build creative lifelong learners.” The Gift Shop features a variety
and memorization expected of our children in our test-taking school culture is not productive and won’t teach our children to be innovators in the future. The main tenet behind Melissa & Doug’s toy creations is that playtime is critical to learning and children aren’t getting enough of it. Unstructured play encourages children to solve problems, learn critical thinking skills, and build imagination – all of which will lead them to one day become innovative, creative adults. “Play doesn’t go on your resume. No one says, today my son built a great pillow fort, but they should,” says Bernstein. “Playing helps children find the extraordinary in the everyday. It allows them to see possibilities and potential. A wooden rectangle block isn’t just a block – it could be a train, a rocket ship, or a cupcake. Play allows children to see the world with different eyes and become thinkers.” Melissa & Doug is so committed to putting play back into childhood, that they are launching a national grass roots program to help parents fight against tech overuse and better understand the value of free time and
Courtesy of Westchester Children’s Museum
At the Westchester Children’s Museum Gift Shop kids can enjoy interactive play with Melissa & Doug toys starting in December 2019. of play experiences where children can pretend to be a vet, a gardener, a chef, a caregiver, a train conductor, a doctor, an astronaut, a princess, a magician, or anything their imagination can conjure. The Gift Shop is currently open Wednesdays through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but hours may be extended during the holidays so check the Museum’s website, DiscoverWCM.org.
open-ended play. They recently hired their first Chief Mission Officer to help them be partners to parents and “be the voice that says it’s OK to play.” Find your spark Bernstein uses the word “spark” often. She uses it to refer to what it feels like when an idea for a toy hits her, when she sees the way a child plays with a certain toy, when she feels her creative energy building toward some new discovery or design. For her, spark means passion and innovation. “Everything is built on a spark,” she says. “To do anything meaningful, you need to be passionate about it, whatever that is. If you find your spark, then I say go for it. Explain it to your kids. You will be an amazing role model because of it.” Corinne Zola is a founder of the Westchester Children’s Museum and a current board member. She and her husband are the proud parents of two who grew up playing with Melissa & Doug toys!