Oddbean new post about login | logout How do you explain history to your children if you do not believe the stories that are written in history books? How do you show kids what you believe, without damning them to be socially rejected? #dadstr
My parents did this! They explained that most people are brainwashed/radicalized but still good people and still deserve respect. And that you have to play the game to advance in society. It's ok to know more and keep it to yourself in most settings.
It's gonna be tough. Encountered a 9/11 reference in a kid magazine tonight. I tried stuck to the bare facts and said "I'm sure we'll talk about this a lot more as you get older..."
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Sorry, I am not clear on the emoji meanings here
And that will be difficult days, talk about it with your son. This was a very sad event!
A hard lesson 🙏
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Relevant questions! However, be kind as a father. Our children need in some way, to be as we were, pure and freed from the imperfections that the world offers us. The magic fantasy for a child is to imagine everything is possible! And we need to preserve that purity in them!
Why is being socially rejected a bad thing? Society, in general, is sick and needs to heal, but I'd rather it not traumatize and child I may yet have. Teaching them to seek, value, and cling to truth is far better than any sort of acceptance that they may find if you let them be traumatized enough to fit in with the idiocy foisted on so many.
As an adult, I am fine with being outside of "normal" societal beliefs, but what will life be like for a 10 or 15 year-old who believes an alternate storyline?
Just fine if you also raise them to be resilient and also work to ensure that they know how to be generally sociable and also ensure that they have at least one like-minded friend in the community of people you choose to associate with. Yes, that means you have more work to do and more consideration to put into things, but, that's your purpose, so do it.
The only difference between fiction and nonfiction is trust. I don't have kids, so I can't say what would work. But for me, questioning the history I was taught was first the result of extreme cynicism after learning just a little bit about how things actually work. If I were to teach someone from scratch, I'd focus on building habits of questioning and making sure what you're hearing makes sense before you accept it, and even then, holding what you believe lightly enough that new information can adjust your views when needed. Belief in good religion is a great foundation.
Teach them that history books are just someone's opinion and to try and find both sides of the story