The Trouble with Thanksgiving

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So in the spirit of autumn, I wanted to do some activities with the boys based on the fall holidays.  There isn't much about Halloween that is appropriate for three year olds.  I can't find a single (decent) Halloween book that doesn't talk about witches and monsters and since the boys don't even know the word "monster" yet I'm not going to take this opportunity to introduce it- thankyouverymuch.   I looked around for some Thanksgiving books instead, thinking there was quite a bit more learning material there.  There is.  Except that it has caused quite a bit of unexpected internal parental conflict!  You see- the books I found were just rosy.  They were colorful and sweet, full of information for my two hungry little minds.  If my hungry little minds are to believe that the Pilgrims and Indians were best friends at first sight and they helped each other through a long hard year and lived together happily ever after.  On one hand, I can't blame these books.  Its not exactly appropriate to tell the real story to three year olds.  Or seven year olds for that matter.  In fact, the real story is so brutal that most grown ups refuse to believe it.  I admit its easier to believe in the friendly story.  It paints a beautiful picture of the history of our country, one that we have all grown up on- we believe it to be the basis of who we are and where we came from.  But I know in my heart of hearts that it isn't true, so I am left to wonder what do I teach our boys.  If I go with the cheerful story, I've got another two months worth of lesson plans and activities and festivities.  If I choose not to lie to them, I've got to wait another 10 years or so to really delve into what awful, selfish, greedy people we truly were/are.  Awesome!  You're probably about ready to find out what I decided.  Sorry folks- I haven't decided.  I tried today to find a happy medium between truth and toddler appropriateness.  Unfortunately I failed miserably.  The boys loved the feathers the Indians in the stories were wearing, so I thought we'd make some little feathered headbands and focus on the skills the Indians had (regardless of whether or not they shared said skills with the Pilgrims!).  Except the boys wanted to use the real feathers from our art kit instead of the more appropriate (and ironically- fake) looking ones I made out of colored construction paper.  The boys were so proud of their little craft.  They ran around the house calling themselves Squanto and planting plastic ears of corn.  I sat there scratching my head- wondering if they looked more like Indians or male strippers- and which would be worse!!!!  Oy vei!  Maybe I'll do better with Christmas?!?!


Native Americans or male strippers...  You decide!  LOL!