NC Museum of Dolls, Toys & Miniatures in Spencer NC - I would not recommend

Some very nice and dedicated people are associated with this museum, but I no longer recommend NC Museum of Dolls, Toys, and Miniatures in Spencer, NC. My daughter volunteered and dedicated approximately 1,000 hours of her time at this museum, and her dad and I also volunteered our time almost every week for nearly five years. We paid for a family membership throughout those years, and I considered the owner to be a friend and regularly liked and shared many of her Facebook posts. The owner has provided some great opportunities for the community, particularly social opportunities for retired populations who are well off financially, but also by providing a building for a senior lunch program and for a local religious group.

However, after I sent one email to the owner in frustration after my daughter was forced to change clothes, which resulted in her missing about 45 minutes of a museum program due to the travel time home and back after she had paid $90 to attend a museum program, the owner immediately fired my daughter and said she was no longer welcome to volunteer. My daughter misunderstood the program announcement to dress up "as preferred" to mean that she could dress as she wanted to dress. She had designed and spent five hours making her shirt that she originally wore to the program, and she was quite proud of her creation.

My email to the owner also mentioned my concern that some people at the museum had pressured my daughter into having photos made for the museum several times after she had mentioned that she preferred not to have her picture made. In hindsight, I feel I should have more strongly advocated for her regarding this issue long before I wrote that email. When older people with power give a message to young people that saying no and setting limits is not acceptable, it can lead to serious risks in other areas of life if they begin to think that it is normal to have their requests ignored. I'm mentioning this issue here because I think it would be something important to know if anyone reading this has children who are considering volunteering at the museum. Yes, they post reminders on some programs not to take photos unless people agree to have their photos made, but I personally witnessed my daughter being pressured by older adult volunteers to have her photo made just a few months ago despite having those written reminders in place. I had hesitated to say anything at that time because I though it might cause backlash for my daughter....maybe that concern was not so silly after all.

I have never known anyone who likes dolls more than my daughter, and she absolutely lights up whenever she sees one. She has bought many, many dolls from the museum over the years. She would excitedly mark every sale date on her calendar to ensure she did not ever miss an opportunity to shop at the monthly museum sales, where they sell treasured dolls that people have donated to the museum. This museum was one of the shining lights of my daughter's life.

My heart is shattered to know that one negative email by me in all of these years resulted in my daughter being fired. In addition, the owner left it up to me to tell my daughter that she fired her. The owner has the right to exclude whomever she wishes from the doll museum or from her programs, but I feel others should be aware of issues such as those mentioned in this blog post when choosing places to visit and support with their time and money.

Spencer, Salisbury, and surrounding areas have quite a few fun, welcoming family opportunities, such as the NC Transportation Museum, several community theaters, a ghost walk, and numerous nearby parks that I would recommend.

Thanks for checking out my article. Feel free to visit my Travel NC with Kids site map to find all of my articles or you may particularly enjoy reading more of my articles below:

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