Smart Talk with Art Krenshaw Nov. 24th

Hello all, thankfully (get it?)  Thanksgiving break is coming up at NKU so Art Krenshaw has a little bit of time for us.  The e-mail questions have been piling up, but I thought we'd take a question that's relevant to our upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

Art Krenshaw is an expert in human behavior. He's studied sociology and anthropology at Northern Kansas University and currently teaches on the side.

SMART TALK

with

ART KRENSHAW

Dear Dr. Krenshaw,

Hello.  I enjoy your advice and wanted to thank you for the insight you have provided.  My question is one about Thanksgiving.  The holiday is coming up and I have a young child who is being taught all about the Pilgrims and Indians at school.  Of course they are being taught a nice story about the Indians helping the Pilgrims through a cold winter and the wonderful feast the two of them shared.  The message is one of peace, giving, friendship, and appreciation for what you have.  All things I would love for my child to learn.  My concern is that the real Pilgrims were not incredibly kind or giving towards the Native Americans and I feel like I am lying in a way by not telling my child the truth.  However, I don't want to ruin the positive message that the schools are teaching or give my son the idea that he can't trust what he is being taught in school.  What do you think I should do?
Signed,
Thankful




 Thankful,
Thank you for bringing up this interesting point.  I know we have a class here at the University that focuses on "real" history vs. "desired" history, and I'm pretty sure this is one of the examples covered within the first few weeks of class.  Your situation and dilemma is not unique and I will tell you what the more commonly accepted solution in the academic community is.  In short:  lie some more.  The best thing to do would be to tell your children all sorts of other terrible things that the Pilgrims did so when they learn the truth, it is not as damaging.  But you need to put it into terms they will understand.  Something such as telling them that Pilgrims shut down the Indians internet and refused to let them watch Disney princesses.  I told my kids that the Pilgrims made the Indians go to the dentist and eat vegetables every day, and then monsters ate all of them.  Then when my kids asked if monsters ate everyone how come there are no monsters today, I simply explained the process of evolution to them, and that Daddy was part monster, so if they didn't go to bed at 8:30 every night, it was very possible he would eat them.  This is also a good segue into the story of Kronos, and how he attempted to eat all of his children.  Education.  For younger ones, a good analogy is something such as "The Pilgrims broke Thomas the Tank Engine".  When your children follow up with questions about that, just don't answer them, it's very exhausting explaining things to children.  Now if you'll excuse me, I'm about to go to the store to ensure I have all my ingredients for Art Krenshaw's famous potato casserole!
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Mmmm!  You'll have to give us that recipe, Art!  As always, your advice was greatly appreciated.  Until next time, this has been another edition of Smart Talk- With Art Krenshaw!