In case you are interested in further museum horror stories, I was not working there, but here it goes: a small kid, aged about 24 months, was left to roam free by their parents, who were very obnoxiously taking pictures of themselves with some of the objects on display as if this were a professional shoot. This was on a tour, mind, so they were not only being a tad annoying, their behaviour was not very polite, too, given the tour guide was talking to the group. Their kid was extremely noisy, running around and at one point, went straight for their mother's legs and hugged her from behind, causing her to almost stumble into a huge 18th century silver tankard due to the unexpected force of the child crashing into the back of her knees. The entire room seemed to gasp, anticipating to become witnesses in a high-stakes insurance claim and police investigation. Now, this was a special event guided tour with a costumed interpreter in full 18th century Prussian regimentals, who, looking at the concerned face of the museum worker close by, and the annoyed ones of the visitors, took charge of the situation: he used his walking stick to point at the child in one astonishingly swift motion and grumbled something like "You! Eh, children...", giving the parents a very dirty look. The funniest thing was, this was the moment he seemed to be most believably in character. The little one turned to their mum, buried their face in her leg and remained quiet for the rest of the tour. I feel a little bad for the child, who should clearly have been better supervised (or not brought along to a tour for older children and adults at all) but I hope it was a lesson to the parents. You don't get to be the focus of negative attention by an 18th century king in full dress uniform every day, after all.
Good for him.
You're right, though, I will say- that's on the parents. If you can't find a babysitter or think your two-year-old will get something out of the museum (hey, start 'em young!), it is now your job to run interference on that two-year-old. You don't get to take Instagram pics if you elected to bring a toddler to the Fragile Priceless Artifacts Zone.
Like I said in an earlier ask, I've honestly had more issues with adults than kids only a little bit older than that and up. Children are used to hearing "don't do this" and following directions. Adults are more likely to think "why?" and even after having it explained, "that doesn't apply to me."
Most people of all ages are fine in museums, to be clear! It's just the small number of jerks that stick out in one's mind.
