Should Museums Ban 'Heelys'?

Heelys®, the trainers with wheels, are all over the news this week and now museums have joined the debate.

Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow has become the latest place to ban Heelys, following schools and some shopping centres.

These new trainers mean you can walk or roll.

Are they the right thing to wear when you're visiting a museum with thousands of valuable objects on display?

It's not a new problem, whether we're talking about roller blades, skateboards or just running about.

How can we keep all the lovely stuff in museums safe AND make sure we can all have a good look at it?

© 24 Hour Museum / Jon Pratty

At Show Me we are always talking to museums to find out if they are friendly to people like you. We want more museums to make sure they are fun places for kids to hang out.

So should museums tell you what you can and can't wear? At Kelvingrove a display case got damaged, but maybe they should have signs saying 'no stilettos' as well as 'no Heelys'. After all, lots of museums have wooden floors that might get damaged.

"I think museums are really silly worrying about this," said Show Me reader Ruby from Brighton.

"It's the museums' fault for the way they display things in their galleries. People should have the freedom to wear what they want. Heelys are amazing, they're so amazing," said Ruby.


© 24 Hour Museum / Jon Pratty

Ruby thinks wearing Heelys in public places is cool too:

"It's great to be able to practice and I think children would be careful in public places."

Ruby's teacher at school was a bit sniffy about Ruby's Heelys a few days ago: "but I'm always careful to take my wheels off before I go to school."

In some stately homes, vistors wearing stiletto heels have to remove their shoes at the door and walk around the building wearing disposable slippers, so the precious floors are protected.

We'd love to know what YOU think. Do you agree with Ruby or are you on the Kelvingrove Museum's side? Should Heelys, like skateboards and roller blades, be banned from museums? Get In Touch with your views about how we can all have fun in museums, and keep treasures safe at the same time.

And don't be put off going to Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery. It's an amazing place to visit - they have three fantastic Discovery Centres where you can explore Art, History and Environment. Just leave your Heelys at home!

If you do visit, why not tell us all about it?

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