My son is in a school that requires a research paper on a topic. He picked WWII. In discussion last night, my husband and I were wondering how much information on the Holocaust should be included? We haven't seen the requirements yet, but it makes us wonder, while of course I want my children to know history, I wonder if First Grade is too early to discover this dark and disturbing time. There is plenty of material in WWII to cover in a report, but our instinct is to play this part of it down greatly for the time being. What do you think?
Lovemy4 is a discussion leader for North Central Phoenix, tired mother of 4 great kids and wife to one great husband.
WWII is a pretty broad topic
WWII is a pretty broad topic for a first-grader. My son proposed doing a research paper on God in first grade, and the teacher gently guided him toward something that he could better handle. In the end, he wrote about scorpions. You might want to narrow to a particular battle or a specific soldier. I wouldn't tackle the Holocaust just yet. There will be plenty of time for that.
Karina Bland is raising her 9-year-old son in Tempe with a lot of love, humor and support from her friends and family. A longtime journalist covering child welfare and education issues for The Arizona Republic, she blogs about raising good kids.
I agree with
I agree with Kindahotmom....he has plenty of time to learn about that and then later might be able to understand a bit better.
No way would I even let my
No way would I even let my child venture into that topic. War is hard enough to explain to adults let alone a child but the Holocaust is definetly too extreme for a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds to know and comprehend. I would freak out as a parent if my daughter came home and told me she learned about the Holocaust in the first grade. I agree, I would focus on a soldier or maybe some of the positive outcomes of this war.
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While I agree that those who
While I agree that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it (JFK, I believe), 6 or 7 is way too young to find out that the German Nazi state killed 5 million people for what amounts to no good reason. I'd try to get him to pick something else: puppies, fields full of daisies, The Cardiff Giant, anything.
I agree that you should
I agree that you should narrow the topic to something specific. Maybe research Arizonans' role in the war?
Susie is a discussion leader in the east valley for arizonamoms.com. She has two sons, ages 7 and 3.
First grade is pretty young
First grade is pretty young to go too deeply into the holocaust. Make sure you do talk about this at some point, though. My 13 year old was the only child in her history class who knew what the holocaust was. That was pretty shocking to me.
I believe that if your child
I believe that if your child asks a question, you give an age appropriate response. My daughter is almost 7 and I always tell her the truth when I answer her questions, but I omit the obscene details. She knows about the Holocaust, I told her that a very mean man, didn't like people because they were different. He locked them in camps, and made them work without food, and he was so mean that he even had people killed. I personally believe that if your child asks you a question, you should answer it honestly. I'm not saying go out and tell your child every horrible detail about the Holocaust, but if they ask, you should give them an answer appropriate for their age. Just my opinion.
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Lovemy4 is a discussion leader for North Central Phoenix, tired mother of 4 great kids and wife to one great husband.