Children's Corner
Guide for Big-City Kids
There's a whole range of exciting things to do with children in Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth—some mothers have combed their cities and written about them for you.
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The sizeable European population is neglected in the guide, so add an occasional visit to Kuby's Sausage House if you'd like to hear five different European languages shouted simultaneously over their spectacular meat counter. All sorts of European candies and magazines are available at Kuby's too. For the more energetic, plan a visit to the Ennis Polka Fest (Czech) in Mayor try a little foot stomping at the Sokol Athletic Center in Greenville, a Czechoslovakian dancing spot.
The remainder of the guide is devoted to seasonal events, sports and excellent day trips from Dallas.
Houston, like Dallas, has so many artificial attractions for children that it takes a little sifting to find sights that are truly indigenous to the city. (I'm not ready to accept Astroworld as a city landmark.) Patterned after the Dallas guide, the "Only in Texas" portion of The Children's Guide to Houston ($3.25, published by Dominican Montessori School, The Little School House and Memorial Hall Parent Teacher organization, 5080 Braes Valley, Houston, Texas) explores Allen's landing where Houston began, Market Square, the restored buildings of the Harris County Heritage Society (a "touching" museum has been added to relieve some of the frustration of peeping into roped-off rooms), Varner-Hogg State Park, and Battleship Texas. The descriptions of what you'll do and see are rather dry and sketchy, but the reading list and, for the super-mom, a visit to the Texas Room of the Houston Public Library would probably provide enough anecdotes to keep such an outing from being just a history lesson.
This guide gives ample information about indoor heated rodeos and baseball games, fishing excursions where a catch is guaranteed, Sea-A-Rama and Astroworld, some of which may offend your moral or esthetic sense, but are nonetheless part of the pleasure of being a child in Houston. I think I'd want to spend many more hours in Hermann Park or see the foreign ships unloading in the Port of Houston, just to give my children some sense of their hometown beyond the neighborhood shopping center.
Houston Museums are noted in the section on "Terrific Tours." The Houston Museum of Fine Arts seems to be particularly tuned-in to children. You might want to check into the "Art after School" or Saturday art classes for children four years and up. A bizarre museum you may or may not want to visit (my boys have devised enough tortures without this exposure) is the Weatherby Arms Museum. It features a dungeon, antique military dress, and medieval torture artifacts. The guide labels it "excellent," but advises some advance preparation for the more frightening exhibits.
Ethnic celebrations, children's theater, wildflower trails, and short trips to Galveston and Freeport are included in the guide. San Antonio and Austin are given two pages as day trips from Houston. Both cities deserve an entire guidebook of their own. (San Antonio can expect one in the Spring compiled by the St. Mary's Hall Montessori mothers.)
Twelve months of things to do with your children in Fort Worth are artistically bound into a brightly colored spiral desk calendar, Fun in Fort Worth ($3.95, published by the Montessori Children's House, 3420 Clayton Road East, Fort Worth, Texas 76116), with spaces left on each page for your specific plans.
Each month focuses on a different aspect of Fort Worth life. January is "What are Cowboys Really Like?" The guide recommends a visit to Amon Carter Museum of Western Art where children can study the faces of cowboys, learn a little Texana, speculate on the function of a museum, and perhaps take home a post card picture of a favorite painting or sculpture. The paintings and sculpture come alive the next week with a visit to the Southwest Exposition and Fat Stock Show. The guide continually reminds parents with dulled senses of the sensory nature of these experiences. Children will hear auctioneers, smell barnyard odors, fresh hay, and perfumed cattle and perhaps feel the soft fur or rough hides of many animals. The rodeo page gives enough rodeo history and lore to make any parent a passable rodeo expert. Still another outing in January takes you to the Boot and Saddle Makers shops. The final page lists other rodeos, museums, and pioneer cemeteries in the area, nine books to read, three related subjects to learn about, and nine play activities that won't cost you a thing.
The following months are equally thorough. February is "What is a Museum?" (The guide is recent enough to include the Kimbell.) March is " Animals are my Friends." (This is the only guide that actually prints a map of the Zoo to assist you in planning a series of short visits.) April is "I Love to be Outdoors." Besides trips to the Fort Worth Nature Center, Botanic Gardens, and a day on the Trinity, the guide outlines a backyard safari with insect drawings to aid your explorers in identifying their prey.
The August portion, "Buildings," was particularly interesting to me, since with no prompting from their unskilled parents, our boys are tool and construction equipment freaks. Many children insist on favorite toys at bedtime; my son slept with a hammer and four real screwdrivers (the hatchet was denied) for at least six months following his second birthday. I have learned to detour by construction sites on my way to the grocery store and have ventured the wrong way down one way streets in hot pursuit of cranes or bulldozers. The guide makes it so much easier and worthwhile. One excursion sends you on a treasure-hunt search for unusual buildings in and around the Ft. Worth area with architectural features and historical background as clues.
The remainder of the guide covers the performing arts, trips out of town (bet you haven't been to Weatherford or Cleburne with the kids), "My Community" and finally "My Favorite Holiday," a Christmas they won't forget.
All three guides are incomplete since these cities are changing so rapidly; but when you've exhausted these suggestions and read TM's 382-page Guide to Houston you'll be ready to explore on your own and let the kids write a new guide.
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