How to Make Your Child Love History

📚How to Make Your Child Love History📚

1. You can’t.
   You can’t make anyone feel anything.
   This, I feel, is a really important truth which (a) removes the pressure you may feel that what you do or don’t do may ruin everything, and (b) is true for all other things in life, too. Some children will be natural historians—curious, interested about the past and the people who lived there. And some won’t. Some will evolve into natural curiosity over time and into adulthood.
   That’s ok.
   It’s not a race or a competition.
   There are no awards for who knows the most historical trivia.

That said, there are things you can do to help.

2. Make it human.
   Your best chance, when they’re young, is to introduce the past like a story—acknowledging that we are all in the story, too. While many historians reject the idea that there’s an overarching narrative to the past, I still firmly believe that living history books, placed in chronological order, will help children understand the human element of the past AND where they fit in the big picture. (That’s why Chronos is so full of book lists.) When they’re older, learn how to access and interpret primary sources so they can read original documents. (But narrative books are always a good idea for any age!)
3. Get immersed.
   Books are incredible tools, but nothing beats immersive experiences like re-enactments, historical sites, living museums and open-air museums. Seeing Civil War reenactors setting up their camps, or watching a reenactor cooking in the summer kitchen of a 17th Century homestead is something you just can’t get from a book. It gives children a sense of historical empathy, a realization that people of the past are just like us and yet so different. It also serves as a benchmark for future history lessons. (A lesson about Abraham Lincoln hits differently after you’ve visited the Lincoln Museum and Library in Springfield, for example.)
4. Don’t get too detailed too soon.
   Dates and names of events are important, don’t get me wrong, but what’s MOST important is that students first understand causation: X happened which caused Y, and it ended in Z. Big-picture history, a good grasp of major historical eras, and knowing where to place key events throughout the human timeline are the things to focus on. When we introduce too many details at once, it’s overwhelming, confusing, and it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture.
5. Be open.
   Open-ended questions can stimulate their imagination, promote critical thinking, encourage historical empathy, AND encourage them to participate in their own learning. This is especially after a trip to a historical site or museum. Examples of this include:
   -“Did you see the size of that ship? I wonder how people used to travel for such long distances in that thing. What do you think?”
   -“Can you imagine what life was like for the servant girl here?”
   -“What kinds of questions would you ask the soldier if he were alive right now?”
6. Take small bites.
   For younger kids, the past is really hard to grasp, especially the further back we go on the timeline. So keep lessons short, and review content from the previous lesson during the subsequent one.
   For older students, long lectures (either in class, a video series, etc.) may be completely overwhelming and/or boring: if your child is glazing over, stop, and sum up the main purpose of what he/she should have learned so far. Mix in narrative books, immersive experiences, documentaries, YouTube videos, movies, and enrichment activities (this is why I include all of these in Chronos). Varying mediums can also appeal to different learning styles.
7. Time travel often.
   The past is all around us, from the disintegrating barn beside the highway to the black and white photo on grandma’s wall, to the exposed brick peeking out of old buildings downtown. It’s in the cemeteries we pass, the music we listen to, and the movies we watch. It’s in the faces of our elders and even in our memories.
   Start noticing the past that’s around you, and talk about it.
   Stop at historical markers.
   Stop at old cemeteries.
   Visit the local historical society.
   Visit the past often: it’s always there.

And accept the fact that even with your best efforts, a child may never “love” the subject of history—but they WILL understand it. They will come to appreciate it, and they will notice it everywhere.

Because it IS everywhere.