The exhibit “Go With the Flow” at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine in 2021, when it opened at Thompson’s Point. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

Ever since I saw the first colorful photos from inside the impressive new Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine when it relocated to Thompson’s Point in 2021, I figured someday I’d find a reason to check it out in person, even though I don’t have kids.

There have been opportunities I’ve let pass, like when friends have been with their families, but I didn’t want to have to go at their pace or wind up watching their children. I wanted to check out the exhibits that interested me, skip the ones that didn’t and leave when I felt like it — you know, enjoy it the way I do anything as a childless adult.

I also was aware of the adults-only parties at the museum, but I wasn’t interested in making a social outing out of it either. Even though I knew it might be awkward, I just wanted to walk around on my own.

Realizing there were probably other people like me, I found my excuse to finally buy a ticket: I could write about the experience and let others know whether it’s worth the price of admission ($18) for adults to go alone. Plus, having a pen and reporter’s notebook would help shield me from any sideways glances.

I bravely decided to visit during school vacation week this month, assuming that’s as intolerable as it could get for a lone grown-up. If it was worth it then, it would be worth it anytime. But, when I went to book my single ticket, I found out I couldn’t: The museum doesn’t admit adults who don’t have a child with them.

What in the JD Vance kind of policy is this, I wondered. After being able to rent a car, I assumed my age wasn’t going come into play at any place of business until I qualified for senior discounts, and I never suspected my childlessness would hinder me from doing what I wanted. That’s pretty much the whole point of not having kids.

I reached out to the children’s museum hoping to hear an explanation about the need for the policy that would appease me, but instead got some vague reasoning about its children-first mission and unspecified safety concerns.

The lobster boat “Peachy” in the “Our Neighborhood” exhibit at the Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine in 2021. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

I don’t buy the argument that “unaccompanied adults,” as the policy calls us, would get in the way of children’s play or take up tickets from kids who wanted them during busy days, as spokesperson Shultzie Fay Willows suggested. Is the museum really worried that curious adults could start coming in droves and shoving kids out of the way to get to the exhibits? Plus, we just as easily could take up a child’s place in line by glomming onto a group.

Something wasn’t being said, so I turned to the Arlington, Virginia-based Association of Children’s Museums, of which the Maine museum is a member, and asked how common these policies are and why museums might adopt them. The answers I got were “fairly common” and, again, concerns around children’s safety, including that the spaces are built for kids, but nothing else specific.

I have faith that adults without children could adhere to any size limits for equipment — whether they’re posted as rules or made obvious by observation — as I’m sure parents and chaperones, as well as older children or adults with developmental disabilities (who are allowed at the Maine children’s museum with an aide) already have to do. Is this really a reason to exclude such a large swath of people?

There are other places with similar policies — LEGO Discovery Centers, children’s rooms at libraries and playground areas at parks. In looking for explanations behind them, I found a 2015 article in the National Recreation and Park Association’s magazine that offered some insight. While the written purpose of an ordinance in Hollywood, Florida, banning adults without children from public playgrounds was to ensure the equipment was available to kids, it said, comments by public officials indicated it was really to address parents’ concerns about sex offenders and “undesirable” or strange-looking people in the parks.

In other words, because you can’t ban someone for looking creepy, then why not adopt rules (with backhanded reasoning) to keep away categories of people who you think are most likely to be. Sounds kind of like the policies of someone else we know, who recently dealt the children’s museum an unpleasant surprise by terminating a grant for Wabanaki programs.

An adult goes down a slide at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine. Photo by Zack Bowen LLC

I can think of some legitimate reasons for restricting adults at the children’s museum, like maybe not wanting a bachelor party thinking it would be a fun stop after a few beers at Bissell Brothers, but if that’s what the museum is thinking, it wouldn’t say.

The museum was hoping I could keep the focus on the opportunities adults do have to visit on their own, including at theatrical performances, staff-led tours by appointment and, namely, its Imagination Ball fundraiser on May 9, with tickets starting at $100.

I’m not desperate enough to see this place to arrange for a chaperone or give up my Friday night for it, but if you do, I hope it’s worth it.