How do you teach your kids history

I started today filled with thanks. Another MLK day has come and I meditate on the details of a struggle that I never participated in, but of which I am the proud benefactor. As I allow my thoughts to drift through the details, the history I can claim thanks for, the ungrateful brats, a.k.a my children, cross my mind. I am fully aware my children will inherit a world that is not invested in their equality or their individual success. I have raised them in an environment devoid of the harsh realities that await on the other side of my front door. Have I failed to teach them the crucial life lessons?

Scrolling through the various posts commemorating the holiday, I come across a friend who was apparently thinking something similar to myself.

Her post precipitated an unexpected chain of thoughts. Her message is thoughtful and clear but subtly communicates far more than she shared textually. The undercurrent of sad responsibility washes through the subtext of her post resonated and resonates with me. I respond with “ I started that lesson with my girls early…” but the reality the lesson is an ongoing conversation with an ending I cannot foresee.

Her simple statement calls attention to the inescapable duality in the conversations between African-American parents and their children. Consider what it feels like to attempt an explanation about one of America’s great black historical figures, while simultaneously trying to preserve the child’s innocence and sense of pride for a nation they will live in for the foreseeable future. When we talk to our kids about “the way things used to be” we are sharing things we’ve learned and things we’ve experienced.

At best, the advice and explanations we share with our children are tedious. We acrobatically walk the fine line between teaching them and coloring their perceptions with our personal baggage. I have heard several parents from other heritages share their egregious opinions on the way African-Americans…

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