Most of the time, when teaching history, we talk about important people, discoveries, events, or generally any major event that has significance. Doing so makes the past easier and more fun; it’s like putting a hero and telling a tale through their eyes.
But, of course, we can’t always do that now, can we?
Sometimes, or maybe even most of the time, history has a lot of touchy subjects and events. Difficult subjects that are hard to tell, especially for the younger children.
Topics/subjects such as wars, discrimination, poverty, abuse, and injustice are all integral components of stories, and each of these, unfortunately, appears in a lot of parts of history. When it comes to such subjects, learning about them or even teaching them can be a touchy field. But still, learning about them is something that should be done not only for general education but also to learn from past mistakes.
These things help children grasp how societies worked and how they have changed through trial and error and experience. It tells us how certain rules came to be, institutions, and protection within the law.
But how can we teach them all that while treading carefully?
Start With Information That Is Appropriate To Their Age
The first thing is considering the child’s age. When it comes to younger children, most of the time they benefit from a simpler approach and a simpler explanation, rather than going into too much detail.
A quick example:
In the cases of different treatment of people and classes throughout history, a teacher could explain that they came from a different country, one where they lost their homes. Older children can be slowly taught about more complicated reasons and details involved. There is a lot to learn about political, social, and economic circumstances surrounding historic periods or events, but these factors can be presented one piece at a time instead of the entire thing all at once.
It’s not about trying to hide those parts of history, but instead adapting it to the level of the children’s age and giving them time to slowly understand it in a way that is both interesting to them and will actually stay with them once they hear it.
It’ll jolt their brains to actually think about the subject. This will help with memory retention.
Use Stories to Create Context
Stories are great tools that can help create context, especially when it comes to more complicated historical subject matter.
For example, learning about a single family or a person can be much less challenging and possibly even more fun than learning about an entire nation and its people. It could give a good indication and a general idea of the circumstances of certain people during a certain time. It’s also much easier to follow than going.
This event happened this year, that event on that date, and so on.
There are a lot of nonfiction books out there that incorporate both a story-type approach alongside real events. These are good ways to make learning more fun.
Discuss Difficult Subjects Carefully
Whatever the case is when teaching subjects, one thing’s sure, and that is that touchy subjects – those involving war, discrimination, institutional failures, and injustice – will undoubtedly come up.
For instance, if a child is learning about church and the history of Christianity, the recent Illinois Diocese of Joliet abuse claims may suddenly jump out as surprise questions – it’s been all over the news anyway, so it’s not a shock, but how do you respond to that?
A lot of people living close by may feel slightly unnerved by mentions that don’t hit far from home. Apart from modern examples, a lot of historical examples in a place far away and a time long past are most likely to come up.
The level of detail of talking about those should depend on the child’s age and the purpose of the lesson. They’re viable lessons since they can showcase how society deals with responsibility, changes in laws, and the importance of reporting wrongdoing.
After all, not all institutions that have been made to protect people have always done so at a required level.
Encourage Children to Ask Questions
Whatever the lesson is, one thing is generally a good idea, and that is to encourage questions. Children are naturally inquisitive and want to learn.
When you create an environment that nurtures that curiosity, it’ll most likely motivate that child to learn, and learn in a positive manner, which is important. You don’t want to associate learning with something that’s forced (e.g., punishment, chore, etc.), but something that the child will grow into actually wanting to do. They’ll be eager to learn.
A good idea isn’t to always answer directly, but instead encourage the children to come to an answer by themselves; by thinking and investigating the matter.
Some tools that might help are historical documents, reading age-appropriate books, examining photographs, or comparing different accounts of an event.
Learning to ask questions is a good way towards attaining knowledge. Never forget that. People sometimes tend to mistake someone asking lots of questions for arrogance or annoyance. But this is wrong. Learning by asking questions is how you actually learn something. This is how you grasp concepts.
Perhaps it’s not the child asking questions that’s the problem; perhaps it’s the person who doesn’t know how to pass on that knowledge that’s causing the issues.
Conclusion
In summary, difficult parts of history will surely come up sooner or later, whether it be from books, school lessons, documentaries, or even just simple conversations with their peers, family, or family friends.
These things shouldn’t be avoided but accepted, and kids should be prepared to understand these issues. Shielding them from such matters can only last so long, and sooner or later they will have to grow up just like everyone else.
But as said, the child’s age should be the top factor to think about when it comes to determining your teaching (their learning) methods.
