History is another subject that I find fascinating. My philosophy is that it is often taught in such a boring manner that children become lost and not engaged. Whether it is because there is too much information to get through in a set amount of time or because the teacher does not enjoy the subject, the child is often the one left with a bad taste about history.

So what is history? At a most basic level history is learning about the past. I also believe that by learning and studying the past we will not be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. But the truth is that being concerned about not repeating mistakes is the least of a child’s concerns. They are more interested in getting together with their friends.

The challenge is making history interesting for kids. After all if it becomes somewhat interesting then they will most likely want to learn more. While dates are important, I believe it is much more important for there to be a good understanding of a time period. Often when I visit a historical location, I allow myself to travel back in time. I imagine what it must have been like to live in that time period. What would it have smelled like? What would my concerns of the day have been? What would my role have been? How were decisions made in the town? My mind just continues and I can end up spending hours at a museum or historical location. While my husband considers it a unique ability he does tend to look worn out after several hours. Thankfully wireless Internet and a bench give him a reprieve and allow our daughter and I to continue our exploration.

Since history encompasses so much time and geographical space, it can be overwhelming. So, where do you start a discussion about history? The wisest place to start is with what the child may be interested in. If they are unsure of what might be of interest to them, then you could start with the toilets. Toilets? Think about it. What child, of any age, is not fascinated with gross things? It is with that premise that I often entice my daughter with history. Frankly, it has worked well over the years.

One memorable time was when we were visiting Colonial Williamsburg (http://www.history.org/). The group we were with headed toward the Magazine, which held the arsenal for Colonial Williamsburg. While this was fascinating for my father, my daughter was clearly becoming board. I asked her what she would like to see and I proposed the Public Gaol. (That would be the public jail to you and I.) We talked about what it must have been like during the colonial times to end up in jail, what might have caused someone to go to jail and how they could get released. We then went on a brief tour of the jail.

But the thing that caught her attention was not the fact that the inmates had no heat and the windows had no glass. Or that the gaoler (jailer) lived there with his wife and five children in a house attached to the jail. Or even the fact that the pirate Blackbeard’s henchmen were housed there and that the jail operated until 1910.

No, the thing that intrigued our daughter was the throne-like toilet in the jail. For a jail, it was quite interesting, I have to admit and I did enjoy seeing her eyes widen as she became intrigued with some history. Inmates would be chained with leg irons to different sections in the jail but all of them could reach the toilet. The toilet was about 5 feet high with several steps going up it where the inmate would then sit and well, do his business. It so intrigued her she got a picture quite literally on top of the throne!

Another memorable time was when we visited the Vanderbilt summer “cottage”. Ok, let’s get real this is quite probably the most inaccurate description of a house that one could offer. The truth is that while the homes were closed after the summer they were really mansions! The Vanderbilts 70-room summer mansion in Newport, Rhode Island is known as the Breakers, ( http://www.newportmansions.org/). It is located right on the Atlantic Ocean. One Christmas vacation we visited the Breakers. We enjoyed it via a self-guided tour which was only supposed to take about 1 ½ hours but to my husband’s dismay, our daughter and I investigated the “cottage” for almost 3 hours.

This time the sheer size of the “cottage” piqued our daughter’s curiosity. She had recently seen the Mark Twain house, (http://www.marktwainhouse.org/), and was convinced there was no house that could possibly be larger. When we drove up and saw the Breakers she had to admit that there really were larger houses. As we toured the Breakers we learned about the Gilded Age, the Vanderbilts and the fact that the Breakers was rebuilt after an 1892 fire completely destroyed the mansion.

As we toured, we once more came across interesting restroom facilities. This time they had toilets similar to ours today. But what was unique was that the bathtubs had two sets of faucets. One set of faucets offered hot and cold fresh water that was collected in cisterns, while the other offered hot and cold salt water. The salt water was pumped up from the ocean and both types of water were stored in holding tanks in the attic. When someone wanted a bath, the water would flow down using gravity to the tub below.

Finally, I have one last historical toilet memory to share. We recently visited Old Sturbridge Village, ( http://www.osv.org/). For those unfamiliar with Old Sturbridge Village, it is a reproduction of what a colonial New England town would have been like and how it would have functioned. This time as we toured the different houses, we came across one that had a chamber pot in the room. If you are unfamiliar with a chamber pot, it was a pot kept in the bedroom so that if one had to relieve themself they could go on the pot instead of going outside. With the right questions, the chamber pot can invoke some creative imagination.

In this case, I asked, “Why is the pot on the floor?” “What was it used for?” “What if you had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night?” Then there is the surefire question that will evoke a response such as, “Ohhh, gross!” The question is, “Could you imagine getting up in the middle of the night and stepping into the chamber pot by accident?”

In the end, history is what you make it for yourself and your child. Asking the right questions to invoke their imagination is a great way to introduce history. In the end though it is most important to be patient and give the kids time to explore and ask questions. After all, do you want history to repeat itself? If it did we could end up using chamber pots again. Ohhh, gross!