Do your kids know about JFK?

[AnnieW625]

I don't think DD1 knows about it yet. I have asked her a few times if she has learned about any of the presidents this week and she hasn't. She has a small history of the presidents book (my sister gave her) and she knows about Abraham Lincoln being shot, but she hasn't mentioned JFK yet. I so want to tell her too because I have always found JFK's life fascinating.

[crl]

Not sure. Well, I am sure my three year doesn't. My ten year old may. He knows all about Martin Luther King.

Catherine

[egoldber]

I honestly don't know. Neither has studied contemporary American history (by that I mean post WWII) in school yet. Older DD will actually get there this year and it wouldn't surprise me if she was taught about him today in history class. But she's in middle school.

I think elementary school often doesn't get to contemporary history? I don't remember learning about modern events in school until high school. I think part of this is they focus on the early history and then a selection of other important (often multicultural) people of historic importance. I also think they don't like to discuss the controversy that is involved with more recent history until kids are older and more able to take on alternative perspectives and can appreciate that not all events have a clearly defined right and wrong.

[elektra]

I don't think DD1 knows about it yet. I have asked her a few times if she has learned about any of the presidents this week and she hasn't. She has a small history of the presidents book (my sister gave her) and she knows about Abraham Lincoln being shot, but she hasn't mentioned JFK yet. I so want to tell her too because I have always found JFK's life fascinating.

I think they have no clue. I am not entirely sure they understand that there have been several other presidents before Obama. I mean they who George Washington, Abraham Lincoln are. They do know about MLK being killed though. Their school flag is at half staff today though, and they did the flag salute outside because of an assembly so I wonder if they will say anything. (The assembly seemed to be something with cheerleading though, and not to do with JFK.)

[maestramommy]

I doubt it. They've learned about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. But beyond Obama they don't know any modern day presidents.

[lfp2n]

I'm not sure, seems unlikely. DD told me once she didn't want to be President as you always got shot. Not sure who she was thinking about and who told her that! She was very interested in all the snipers on the roofs when Obama came to our town, and the huge cavalcade with the ambulance, so that may have been how it came up.

[daniele_ut]

No, my kids don't know anything about JFK. My oldest hasn't studied modern American History yet and my youngest is not even 2 yet.

[georgiegirl]

Dd knows he was a president. In K, they learned a little about the presidents on our money. She did call him JF Kennedy.

[queenmama]

Henry does. He's 13 and they covered U.S. History last year in 7th grade.

Agnes doesn't even know Obama. She's one. ;)

Lara

[carolinacool]

No, but he's only 3.

I remember I was in third grade in 1983, so the 20th anniversary. A parent came in and talked about JFK the person and the assassination. I remember thinking it was pretty interesting, and I got a book on JFK from the book fair later that year.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

No but they're only 2.75 and 4.

Id be very surprised if kids aged 9 or older wouldn't know anything about JFK. Is that not taught in history? I think i was probably in 2nd grade when i heard about him in class. I remember choosing to do a report on his life in 3rd grade, and checking out books about him and the assassination at the library. I was sort of obsessed with the assassination and the mystery of it. I think I was 12 when that oliver stone movie came out and remember babysitting for a family so the mom & dad could go to the movies and watch it, and i was secretly bummed the whole time that i didn't get to see it too (and wouldn't for a while, t was rated R). lol. maybe i was just a geek , and also, maybe JFK and the story isn't as popular now as it was back then. plus, we are Catholic so JFK was probably talked about more in Catholic school and in religious education.

[rlu]

I'll have to ask DS after school. I was in elementary school when Reagan was shot so if I hadn't heard of JFK before that, I certainly did then.

[carolinacool]

I was sort of obsessed with the assassination and the mystery of it. I think I was 12 when that oliver stone movie came out and remember babysitting for a family so the mom & dad could go to the movies and watch it, and i was secretly bummed the whole time that i didn't get to see it too (and wouldn't for a while, t was rated R). lol. maybe i was just a geek , and also, maybe JFK and the story isn't as popular now as it was back then.

No, I was the same way! But yeah, so much time has passed, so many of the family members have died, so naturally there isn't the buzz about the Kennedys that there was 30 years ago (gulp) when I first paid attention to it. I think that was one of the first things that really got me interested in history.

[elliput]

My 5yo DS definitely does not, and I'm unsure about 8yo DD. I doubt it, but some of the things she does know about frequently surprise me.

[mommylamb]

The only 20th century president DS1 knows about is FDR, and that's because of his current obsession with WWII. At school they've learned about Washington, Lincoln, and (non-President obviously) Ben Franklin, who DS1 refers to as "Ben F", like they're buds or something. The other day we were driving to my parents' house and suddenly he starts going on and on about Ben F, and it took me a while to realize who he was talking about, while he was listing all of the things he had invented.

[queenmama]

... (snip) Ben Franklin, who DS1 refers to as "Ben F", like they're buds or something. The other day we were driving to my parents' house and suddenly he starts going on and on about Ben F, and it took me a while to realize who he was talking about, while he was listing all of the things he had invented.

This. This is why we have kids. They're incredible, imaginative little beings. What a cool kid you are raising. Good parenting.

Lara

[ilfaith]

My 4th grader knows about the president...but he's a history buff.

My 2nd grader knows JFK Airport and the Kennedy Space Center.

I don't think my preschooler knows anything about Jack Kennedy.

[AnnieW625]

.....
Id be very surprised if kids aged 9 or older wouldn't know anything about JFK. Is that not taught in history? I think i was probably in 2nd grade when i heard about him in class. I remember choosing to do a report on his life in 3rd grade, and checking out books about him and the assassination at the library. I was sort of obsessed with the assassination and the mystery of it. I think I was 12 when that oliver stone movie came out and remember babysitting for a family so the mom & dad could go to the movies and watch it, and i was secretly bummed the whole time that i didn't get to see it too (and wouldn't for a while, t was rated R). lol. maybe i was just a geek , and also, maybe JFK and the story isn't as popular now as it was back then. plus, we are Catholic so JFK was probably talked about more in Catholic school and in religious education.

:yeahthat: that is pretty much me too less me going to Catholic school, but being Catholic I knew fairly early on that JFK was the only Catholic president. I wanted to see JFK when it came out too. I think I saw it a few years later and the scene of Garrison walking threw Nola and seeing Oswald still creeps me out. I was somewhere between 7 and 9 I think when I learned about the assination. The 25th anniversary was my 6th grade year so we studied a lot of JFK that year. I did my president report on JFK in the 5th or 6th grade. I thought he was good looking as a kid too, and I found him intriguing. I read PT 109 in the 9th grade (boring book).

[♥ms.pacman♥]

. I was somewhere between 7 and 9 I think when I learned about the assination. The 25th anniversary was my 6th grade year so we studied a lot of JFK that year. I did my president report on JFK in the 5th or 6th grade. I thought he was good looking as a kid too, and I found him intriguing. I read PT 109 in the 9th grade (boring book).


:yeahthat: wow, me too!!! i think we are the same age. and yes i think my mom (along with rest of Catholic community) kind of idolized him, so there's that. and i swear i read PT109 too just to read it and it was really boring to me (probably bc as a kid i couldn't really understand the meaning of certain things at the time)

they had a ceremony today at the site (traffic was a little bad during lunch, even several miles out) and i caught snippets of it on local TV when i was out to lunch. i felt bad for all those standing out there, it was raining and COLD today (by Texas standards..like upper 30s).

[ett]

They both do and we actually visited the JFK Presidential Library over the summer. DS2 only knows that he's a former president. DS1 has read a kid's biography about JFK plus other books about presidents.

[ett]

No but they're only 2.75 and 4.

Id be very surprised if kids aged 9 or older wouldn't know anything about JFK. Is that not taught in history?

DS1 is in fifth grade and they're only up to the American Revolution. Most of DS1's knowledge about history is through his own readings.

[mommylamb]

This. This is why we have kids. They're incredible, imaginative little beings. What a cool kid you are raising. Good parenting.

Lara

Thank you. That's very kind of you to say.


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[lizzywednesday]

The only 20th century president DS1 knows about is FDR, and that's because of his current obsession with WWII. At school they've learned about Washington, Lincoln, and (non-President obviously) Ben Franklin, who DS1 refers to as "Ben F", like they're buds or something. The other day we were driving to my parents' house and suddenly he starts going on and on about Ben F, and it took me a while to realize who he was talking about, while he was listing all of the things he had invented.

Oh so much LOVE this!

BTW, Philadelphia just renovated & reopened the Ben Franklin Museum (not to be confused w/the Franklin Institute) so maybe that might be something you could consider for a day-trip (not sure where in the DC-area you guys are) during your winter break? (I'm considering it myself, but think DD might still be too little.)

[hillview]

I don't know -- DS1 is REALLY into WWII so it isn't like he is sheltered from bad stuff ... more that that specific point in history may or may not have have hit his radar. He knows a lot about hitler and battle of the bulge etc.