Prefer to watch instead of read? Here’s the video version of this post.
If you’ve ever scrolled online and felt exhausted by all the noise about history—who’s right, who’s wrong, what kids should be learning—you’re not alone. I’ve been there too. And it got me asking: what does “true history” even mean?
History Has Become So Political
History is one of those things that has become very political, super divisive, and honestly I am just so tired of it. Maybe you feel the same way too. You just want your kids to learn about history, be curious about history, but you don’t want to be dragged into what feels like a cultural war that’s happening right now.
But here is the thing about history: it’s messy.
Parenting Stories and History
It kind of reminds me of parenting.
My daughter will come sprinting into the room saying MOOOOM brother hit me. And I’ll go, son did you hit your sister? And he’ll go, no she’s a liar!
Now I can start piecing together what I think may have happened based off of what’s around them, their personalities, what they have done in the past. But the only two people who are truly going to know what happened in that situation are my son and my daughter. And even then they are going to have different perspectives on how that story went down.
And this also reminds me of a story of when my sister and I were little. My mom had walked outside and our glass patio table—someone had carved I hate my sister. Now my mom, based off of our ages and kind where we were academically, thought that had to have been my older sister who did it. There’s no way I could have done it—she thought I was too young. And I let my mom believe that it was my sister, and that’s how the story went down in history. Because I was not going to admit that I was the bad guy in that situation.
My Opinion on “True History”
The only people who truly know true history are those who lived and experienced the event that we are talking about. And even then those people are going to have a different perspective than other people who also lived the same event.
And those different perspectives are so important. Because if I had an investigator or detective solving my murder, I wouldn’t want to run with the first story that sounded good. Potentially an innocent person could end up being accused of murdering me when they didn’t. I would want that detective to look at all the different stories—even the conflicting stories—because it is often in those conflicting stories where they are able to figure out what happened.
Facts, Perspectives, and Lies
Now some of you may be thinking: Brenda, there are facts when it comes to history.
And you are absolutely right. That is what I call the skeleton of history—or that first layer of the onion when learning history.
But here is the thing: there is a difference between fact, perspective, and lies.
- Facts are fixed. The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776. That’s the skeleton or the outer layer of the onion.
- Perspectives are the stories told about the fact. How they experienced it. How it made them feel. Those are the different layers of the onion that you peel back to get to the heart or the center of the story.
- Lies are outright falsehoods. Outright lies need to be addressed, they need to be called out, and they need to not be allowed to be perpetuated. Because I feel that is dangerous.
It is important to know the difference between the facts and the lies, but also to realize that most of history lives in the world of perspective.
When I Questioned Myself
One night I let that noise of the outside world get to me and I went running to my husband, panicking. And I was like, are my books a part of the problem? Am I lying to kids about history?
And my husband goes, babe, your books tell the general story of what happened and that’s the closest thing to the truth that we can get.
Why I Don’t Use the Phrase “True History”
I don’t believe “true history” will ever be a part of my marketing or my branding.
What I do at Little Lion History is create playful, story-based ways parents can invite their littlest learners into learning history so as they grow older they are excited to learn more about those extra layers and start peeling them back to understand the stories of history.
Wrapping It Up
Just like parenting, history isn’t neat and tidy. My hope is that kids walk away not with every answer, but with the wonder to keep digging, the tools to tell fact from fiction, and the courage to hear more than one side.
That’s what I want to spark at Little Lion History: curiosity, one layer at a time.