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This topic has two sections
Parent advice
Schools
Parents
All medical colleges offer help and counselling to students to get them through the first contact with dead bodies.
Looking at other institutions, MOSI do not have as much help for parents, apart from a schools guide and a few standard Body Worlds suggested answers to questions. The advice is that because every child is different, parents should use their own judgment about the exhibit's suitability for younger children.
Body Worlds claims that the primary goal of its exhibitions is health education. It argues that children do not have many opportunities to see anatomical specimens and that the life-like, whole-body plastinates illustrate what our internal organs are like and where they are positioned in the body.
Children under 16 visiting the exhibition in Manchester must be accompanied by an adult. Children's tickets are available for ages 5 to 16. Under 5s have free entry.
The Body Worlds organisers suggest that the exhibition is unsuitable for school groups below grade 5 (ages 10-11). This conflicts slightly with the open policy of promoting the event as a family day out by offering free places for children under five.
Experts have expressed concern about the psychological effects on young children who view the exhibits, including those too young to articulate their reaction to what they see.
Parents will want to give careful thought to the impact these life-like plastinated bodies could have on their children. While some children may be curious about anatomy and enjoy looking at the exhibits, others may have feelings ranging from unease to fright or horror.
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