What age is appropriate for children to learn about WW1/WW2?

[lepoppo]

Ds 8.5 watched the WW2 documentary on Netflix with me over the weekend and seems very interested, I mentioned to DP I would get him some books and things about the wars and he said he thinks he's a little bit too young, I hadn't considered this and he didn't seem affected by what we watched and I think he considered the wars to be just as in the past as the ancient Greeks for example. Is 8/9 too young to learn about such things?

Irrelevant background info:

I loved history growing up, from 12-17 I flirted between children's homes, failed attempts to be placed back with my alcoholic mother, grandparents home (who really didn't want me there!) and friends houses. I loved history but was never encouraged to do well at school and missed a lot of time off, I passed my history GCSE with an A despite all of this but left education when I was give a council flat at 17 and the reality of running a household set in. DS seems to have inherited my love of history and learning in general and I am keen to facilitate this as much as I can, when he shows a particular interest in a topic I will buy him books, collect any resources we can and find documentaries we can watch together about it, DP things I go a bit over board and I likely do. He's a bright boy, of course I think he's a genius but in reality his end of year report shows he is average in all but one subject (exceeding in maths), although I still think this is amazing considering the impact of covid etc.

I'm from Poland, so the place of some of the worst WWII atrocities and I remember being aware of WWII and Holocaust quite early on. I visited remains of one of the concentration camps when I was 10 years old, and I had had some idea of what was going on in those kind of places before visiting. In general children and teens in Poland are exposed to various topics connected to WWII quite early on and it continues through their education.

Yes I can see that if you are Polish or Jewish, it would almost be strange to avoid the Holocaust even at younger ages @mindutopia and @Epli. That said, 10 seems very young to visit the camps.

My grandchildren all did this.

My son is really interested in ww1/2 and knows an awful lot about it and they did it as their topic in p7 so 11 years old. He loved it, although he did say he knew most of the content already but still engaged - he has asd/adhd and thoroughly enjoyed it. He likes the tanks and planes & made a papier-mâché spitfire which is fab. There are lots of age appropriate resources out there have you looked at bbc bite size they can be great for info.

Learn history? Any and all ages. Its the details that you have to judge whether they are mature enough to handle. I wouldn't be sharing gruesome images to under teen aged kids and over 12 would depend on their individual sensibilities. If we don't recall and learn from history we are doomed to repeat it. Its amazingly sad the bits of history forgotten!

DS and I read the Lion and the Unicorn recently as he did it in class. He is 9. I read Carrie’s War and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit with DD when she was about 10. She had done Anne Frank’s diary at school at a younger age, and also a WWII/Blitz topic aged 7-8.

Horrible Histories is good. DS also likes Oversimplified, which has some slightly adult humour.

I would not talk about the Holocaust until secondary school personally. My family were very into WWII history and as the youngest child I guess they sometimes forgot what wasn’t age appropriate. I walked in on a film they were watching where they send Jews into a gas chamber and they didn’t turn it off. I couldn’t get to sleep for weeks.

We read Goodnight Mr Tom in year 8 which I think is about right.

I was born in 1955 and there were still bombed out houses next to my school in 1959. There was no escaping it then even at a young age.

I think it probably should depend on the child. Innocence re the cruelty of our species is a privilege. I still remember the day I realised dad checking under the car for bombs wasn't a game (I was young) and that the armed men searching our school bus every morning weren't playing either. I suspect that realisation hurts regardless of age.

My Ds (8) knows about war. He's been to enough museums to see the machinery of war. He's obsessed by warships old and new. Nelson is one of his heros. We've talked about the Holocaust. One of his favourite books is Nicky & Vera by Peter Sís (about Nicholas Winton who helped transport nearly 700 Jewish children out of Czechoslovakia and Vera Gissing who was one of them). However its impossible to discuss our family history without covering war in Europe, revolution and the Troubles so its always been something we've talked about.

Any family resources? One of the things ds found the most interesting was learning about various relatives war experiences. We have photos from the aftermath of Monte Casino taken by my grandfather amongst other things (skiing, sitting on a burnt out tank etc), pyramids (2 of his 4 great grandfathers were in Egypt) and commando training in the Highlands after Dunkirk and then the parachute regiment. He's also seen ration books and heard about the postwar period from both his grandmothers (eating pet rabbits/allotments etc and smuggling butter and other things over the border to Northern Ireland).

Absolute yes to Horrible Histories.

My DS6 is aviation mad and has been very aware of the WWs since a young age. Museum visits are great for helping them learn, and the RAF museums regularly have events on for kids.

I taught my kids about it around the age of 8 or so, when they started reading books that referenced it. I think you can keep it very age appropriate and even with the holocaust my kids knew that the Jews were persecuted - I term I explained in a basic sense without going into the scale and brutality of it. I still feel I’m not ‘old enough’ to confront the holocaust in detail.

It really does depend on your child. You've got some great advice here.

DD1, who is 11, knows a little about the Holocaust because of family history. My Dutch grandparents sheltered Jews, Dutch boys, and Allied pilots during the war, and my Oma wrote a book about it, so she has read that. But she doesn't tend to get emotionally affected by things. I wouldn't talk about it with my much more sensitive DD2; will wait till she's quite a bit older.

Great-grandparents, I mean.

Our school have covered it. They did a play about the Christmas truce last December. Went to a museum and learnt the basics. Obvs they're not going to talk about the holocaust or get into political details. More about evacuees, air raids, rationing etc.

It’s fine for an 8 year old to learn about the wars in an age appropriate way. My seven year old
loves Horrible Histories so has learned quite a bit about it from there, and has read a few other non-fiction books about the Home Front. She has also read and watched the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which opened up a discussion about evacuation. I would definitely steer clear of the Holocaust until secondary level though - as a guide, the Holocaust Galleries at the Imperial War museum are only open to ages 14 and up. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is a good way to introduce the topic of the Nazi persecution of the Jews without going into distressing detail.

Just be aware that the Horrible Histories Second World War book does contain some quite graphic passages about the Holocaust so is best avoided.

Ds has always loved history with a particular fascination with the World Wars so I have always just been guided by him making sure nothing is inappropriate. His knowledge of the topic now at 13 is amazing and way beyond most adults.

Likewise I was born in 56 there were still air raid shelters in the school playground. We used to love hearing stories of the war, don’t think we knew about the concentration camps though. Still remember a nightmare when I was hiding from the bombs under my Mums pink silk bedspread. If you are in London parts of the imperial war museum may be suitable. Go and see the poppies at the war memorial.

I'm very interested to read these comments. My son is now 10 and has known about the wars for a few years now. I'd say probably from about 6/7. He is super into history though and once he learns something he wants to know everything about it.

He does know about the holocaust. He has read a children's version of Anne franks diary and goodnight mr Tom and war horse among others. He watches and reads horrible histories and loves over simplified.

They have done about the world wars at school this year (he is in year 5.

He is very sensitive but has learned about it bit by bit at his own pace and has never been distressed about it.

I can't remember learning about the holocaust but I can't remember not knowing about it. I think I must have absorbed the information gradually from adult TV programmes. I can remember the Berlin Wall going up and my dad explaining it to me.

The Usborne and Ladybird books would be a good place to start, OP.

If red poppies are in schools then that is a cue to discuss the wars, right? Both my kids have done red poppy themed craft in nursery!!

8+ I would say for most children but amount of details obviously increase with age. We certainly did the holocaust in year 6 as did my own children, but it needs to be handled carefully and take into account your own children.

Horrible histories is a good starting point. I also remember reading a book called fireweed in year 6, for those with older ones. My own children were exposed pretty young as we took a trip to Germany when they were older primary and they saw plenty of things that some may not agree with so young but it didn't harm them, they both love history as adults too.

I'm so glad I asked this, thanks all! There's some really great resources here that we can have a look at together.

My dad grew up in ww2 and was an evacuee. We grew up hearing all the stories from birth! Even how he met a German POW through a fence on the way to school. His stories got more sad as we grew up but in all honesty I didn't really appreciate the more awful ones until I was older. I'd say all history can be learned from any age but the most gory bits can be left to be discovered as the dc get (much) older.

My DS has always had a passing interest in WW2. My DM is still alive and was born in the late 30s so can remember the latter years. My uncle (also still alive) served in the same war and have told him age appropriate details of their own experiences.