Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments How to facilitate research for young children

If this is the wrong forum for the types of questions I've been asking, please let me know. I have always received such great answers that I am now coming here first.

DD (6) read a children's book about mill workers in Lowell, MA at the turn of the century. It's pretty crazy that it is in the children's section. Lots of it needed to be explained. Lots of it isn't nice. But my daughter was completely fascinated by it. We read it together, discussed sweatshops..she wants to know more about child workers (turn of the century--she has no idea that they still exist). She loves to research and usually goes to google by herself, but the subject matter is so adult... I spent the day with her looking things up. She was even more fascinated with Triangle Factory fire and we ran into the Lawrence Mill too.

She wants to research and write a book about...something. Something related. She keeps asking me questions I can't answer and will ask questions that she doesn't get satisfactory answers to (because they don't HAVE satisfactory answers) over and over. I told her that instead of researching all this stuff on the iPad, I'd curate for her and get her a collection of research materials. I thought she'd forget but she's holding me to it.

It is insane. She will not stop talking about this.

So....any one know any child friendly resources about turn of the century child labor, especially in factories and mills in the US?

Also, if your young child likes to research and wants to create a "book," does anyone have any suggestions on what materials to collect or how to begin and help them set up or record information when they're really too young to write it all down?

I like to let her feed her interests, but I'm pretty uncomfortable with her going this direction. Sweatshops are cruel. And she's pretty sweet and innocent. When I tried to dissuade her she told me that this would help her be a better person and lean to do the right things, but in terms of material, this is definitely as dark as she's gone, which concerns me too. Thoughts about that?

Thanks.

Children work primarily because their labor is needed in poor societies, not because their parents or employers are cruel. There is child labor in many poor countries today, and banning it may make children worse off. Child labor will decrease as countries get richer.

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2014/02/child_labor_and.html
Why India's Ban Against Child Labor Increased Child Labor
by James Schneider
Econlog blog

Try amazon.com. I found this book and this book easily after a single search for "child labor."



I think that if she wants to know about the subject, you're in the best position to help her understand it in an age-appropriate and factual way. You can also answer her questions and help her understand the world. If you don't help her, who will? And if you don't want to talk about this problem because it makes you uneasy, will you teach her not to come to you with hard questions?

I've always been confused about the philosophy of hiding the realities of the world from kids. I know that it comes from an instinct to protect them, but I'm not sure how ignorance protects people (it usually seems to do the opposite). IMO, kids who live in good circumstances need to know that other kids don't live as well as they do. Right now, millions of children are suffering in wars, in famines, and umpteen other very serious problems. When these facts are hidden from children, they can be set up for some very hard landings later (in many ways). They can also seem clueless about the pain of others (because, well, they are, which can be read as insensitivity). Sorry if I'm sounding harsh; you're obviously trying to help your daughter understand this problem. I'm also not advocating that kids be hammered with stories about INJUSTICE IS EVERYWHERE!! I'm only trying to show that there's another side to the idea of being too protective.

No advice, as you know your child best-- but--

this is a road that led to my DD9 doing a very involved research paper in middle school... on...

The Righteous of Nations. Altruism like that fascinated her-- so much so that she INSISTED on watching Schindler's List at ten years old.

It was an obsession that simply would not die until it had run its course.

Honestly? She knew better than we did. It meant something to her to know that while those people are a minority, a few people will sacrifice everything for people they barely know-- or don't know at all. Altruism like that? My DD feels that kind of pull to do for other people, and she needed to know that it wasn't pathological in the least, and that under some conditions, it matters. A lot.

Anyway-- just thought that I'd reassure you that while it may seem very dark (even morbid?) to you, my daughter knows an awful lot about the resistance movements throughout Europe-- including those in the Balkans, where Muslims sheltered Jews as often as Christians did. I had no idea.

My DD never lost her sweetness. It never made her cynical or bitter in the least-- but if anything, it deepened her own commitment to be true to her inner compass that tells her that some things are just wrong.

Do you know what I mean by that?

I suspect that for some HG+ kiddos with extreme social justice leanings, this is a necessary part of their development in a Dabrowskian sense; I think it helps them to build a framework of awareness of the world around themselves.

Some kids are too sensitive to do it, of course, at this young an age. However, some of them can manage far more serious content than we give them credit for.

My DD is one of the most compassionate and empathetic human beings I know. She is also (paradoxically?) one of the most capable when it comes to not letting her emotional responses get in the way of doing the right thing for other people. She's tough emotionally, and she always has been.

I don't know where you are from, but we have gone to some small town historical society museums in states that had mills or mines and many of these places had pictures and stories about children workers. I remember one photo very vividly because it struck a chord with both our daughters. It was a line of dirty, barefoot children working in a textile mill. They had to stand on the machinery in order to reach the spools.

I would look for books at a public library, particularly one in a larger city or county. History books tend to go out of print. I wouldn't restrict yourself to the children's shelves, because there can be interesting & appropriate books in the adults section. Particularly ones that have a lot of pictures.

If you can get a chance to visit the area, I am sure there must be a museum or two around. This brought a smile to my face because it's part of my history, my great-grandfather manufactured loom parts in that part of the world into the 1950's.

Talk to a librarian and find out what research databases are available there. It's likely that they subscribe to some at many different levels, including some that would be accessible at her age.

I'd let her own the inquiry, using the librarian for instruction in searching out material. You might want to teach basic note-taking and citation skills by example, because it's what real authors do as they assemble a non-fiction work, but then let her decide how to use those tools. Notecards are still awesome.

My very sensitive kids (who still have trouble watching most movies) have proven to be OK censors for themselves. DS11 will ask me very sensitive questions about Syria and the Crimea, and listen seriously to the answers, and eventually say "that's enough, that's all I want to know now, thanks." My kids knew their limits on content even at age 7 and put down books if it got too upsetting. I'm finding that I don't need to restrict reading material, though I do need to be on hand to process if they read something tough. YMMV.

I agree that museums may have some excellent resources and round out the picture nicely. Helping her understand the historical context is important, as is the fact that generally speaking, the children are working to help their families, even today.

There may be some good children's biographies or autobiographies on related topics.

You might try doing some searches for folk songs regarding child labor, factory workers, early unionization efforts, etc.

DD sometimes obsesses with ideas that most would consider dark for a 6yo, so I can completely relate. I dread driving past the local 9/11 memorial, since it gets her started with the incessant questions about what happened, how, why, and so on. My too-sensitive self doesn't want to think about it, thank you.

So there is a book called IQBAL, a children's book about a real boy in Pakistan who is a child laborer. My kids read it when they were perhaps 4th or 5th grade. Some of it is upsetting (he is not well-treated), but it is meant for children and so the level of storytelling is fairly mild, given the very serious topic. Kudos to your dc -- she is trying to understand the world. Her comment about being a better person is wonderful.

One of my dc's has this social-justice edge too.