PARENTS WARNING!
-My five year old daughter and I went with her kindergarten class to this aquarium yesterday, and we definitely will not be going back.
-We toured the inside of the museum, and it was fine, other than the restrooms, which were filthy, with dirty water all over the floors. Then her class went out to the "touch tanks" to directly interact with the animals. Up on the stage was a teenage volunteer named Scott who told the kids that they could touch the fish in the front tank, but those in the back tank were sharks and eels, not to be touched.
-As the kids were touching the sea stars, my daughter poked one of them. I heard Scott yell, "Hey! What are you doing?" at the top of his lungs, as if he were yelling at a grown man, not a five year old girl. My daughter started crying and quickly said, "I'm sorry, I won't do that again!" This man then yelled, "Your'e right because you are out of here!" and then proceeded to poke his three foot long stick about three inches from her face. I picked her up to find out what had happened, and he yelled again for her to get out. I told him to stop yelling, and he yells out, "she was KILLING that animal!" At this point the whole crowd was silent and staring at him in fear. He continued screaming, until I told him to stop, and then he stared yelling, "You can't talk to me like that!" I grabbed my daughter up, and the whole class left the building quickly, as he yelled after us, "Good bye! Good bye!" Nothing negative had been done to him or said to him, but I truly feel that if he could have hit her, her would have. I have never seen an "adult" react this way in my life.
-I do not have an issue with someone correcting my child, but I honestly feel that this guy had mental health issues. It was as if he had a mental breakdown right in front of 20 five year olds, and they were in danger. I wouldn't be surprised to see his face in the newspaper some day for a violent crime, it was that bad.
-I called the supervisor today to let him know my concerns, and he let me know that this guy was a high school senior, and it was his last day yesterday. I asked about mental health screenings for their volunteers, as they deal with children all day, and he said that they do fingerprint them, but that is all. He honestly did not seem very concerned.
This really bothered me. If this guy had had a weapon, we would have been in real trouble. My five year old was shaking the whole way home, and the only thing I could tell her was that, although it is not OK to poke a sea star, it is NEVER OK for an adult to freak out like that.
-So....... I think we will head to a more professional aquarium, such as Long Beach next time, it's cleaner, and is a quality, SAFE learning experience for little ones.