Lately, I've been thinking a lot about ways in which to help children understand what life was like in the past - to make the past more concrete to them. When you really think about a child's current life span - 4, 5, 6 years - you start to realize how limited their view of time is, which, of course, means that they don't have much of a reference point regarding changes in history and technology. But if we, as the older adults, show them tools and technologies from the past, it can spark an interest in how people lived before their time. And then us savvy family historians can start talking about WHO in our families lived during those times and actually used those tools and technologies.
Kids. Their natural curiosities literally make them gravitate towards anything that looks or works differently from what they are used to in their everyday lives. This curiosity oftentimes makes them much better than adults at figuring out new technologies, but why not direct their interest backwards in time, instead? The kids and I visited my parents last week, and like many others of their generation, they had some older technology around the house that my kids had never really encountered before. Now, to most of you reading this, what you will see in these photos will be nothing special to you - a record player, a rotary phone - but to most children, these items are literally history in front of them.
My son and I went down in my parents' basement where they keep their old records and record player. Now, records are sort of enjoying a bit of a renaissance and becoming more popular again in certain circles, so some children today ARE growing up with record players in their homes. My husband and I do not have one right now, so this was something new to my son. I found an album that would be of the most interest to him, and I showed him how to use the player. Not surprisingly, he was very interested in how the sound went from the record, "through the needle," and into the speakers. He enjoyed looking at the album 'art,' and while he was doing all this, I was explaining to him that THIS was how his grandparents and great-grandparents listened to music in their homes. I told him that this album was even older than me and he seemed pretty impressed at that.
Kids. Their natural curiosities literally make them gravitate towards anything that looks or works differently from what they are used to in their everyday lives. This curiosity oftentimes makes them much better than adults at figuring out new technologies, but why not direct their interest backwards in time, instead? The kids and I visited my parents last week, and like many others of their generation, they had some older technology around the house that my kids had never really encountered before. Now, to most of you reading this, what you will see in these photos will be nothing special to you - a record player, a rotary phone - but to most children, these items are literally history in front of them.
My son and I went down in my parents' basement where they keep their old records and record player. Now, records are sort of enjoying a bit of a renaissance and becoming more popular again in certain circles, so some children today ARE growing up with record players in their homes. My husband and I do not have one right now, so this was something new to my son. I found an album that would be of the most interest to him, and I showed him how to use the player. Not surprisingly, he was very interested in how the sound went from the record, "through the needle," and into the speakers. He enjoyed looking at the album 'art,' and while he was doing all this, I was explaining to him that THIS was how his grandparents and great-grandparents listened to music in their homes. I told him that this album was even older than me and he seemed pretty impressed at that.
Having him explore the rotary phone was fun, too. My husband and I do not even have a land-based telephone line at our house - we use mobile phones all the time - so my kids are not even aware of having phones that you can only use at home. And the people who they do see with 'home' phones - like their grandparents - have wireless handsets, so even just the concept of a phone with a cord is novel to the kids. Add to that equation a funky-looking circular dial and, to the kids, this thing looks like something from another world.
My son picked up the receiver and heard a dial tone. He asked, "What's that?" (Again, not something he has ever encountered in his life.) We showed him how you had to put your fingers in the holes and move the dial in order to reach a certain number. Then, I called this phone with my mobile and, boy, did that ring startle him! (You forget how loud those ringers really are on these phones.) And, again, I explained that this was how people made telephone calls before mobile phones. You had to be at home and you could only move as far away from the phone as the cord would let you. Sometime, I am going to find a photo of an even older phone and explain to him that you'd have to ask a telephone operator to connect your call!
So, as you can see, you don't need truly antique items around your house to begin on conversation about the past with your children. Start teaching them about your OWN past before you start to tell them about great-grandma. Of course, if you DO have true antiques from the past, I'm sure the kids would love to see and hear about those, as well. My parents use an old cast iron pressing iron as a door stop, and next time we visit, I'll show it to my kids and tell them that people used to have to heat the entire iron near the fire or on the old stove if they wanted to get the wrinkles out of their clothing.
©2014, Emily Kowalski Schroeder.
©2014, Emily Kowalski Schroeder.
