I sat down this morning to explain Thanksgiving to my son. I wanted to know what he thought of it. He said it was a day to eat food and have a party. He's not wrong. We do this every year.
I tried to tell him about the Pilgrims and the real history of this celebration.
He said " I know Mom, we read a book in school called The First Thanksgiving," complete with eye rolls.
He told me the cookie cutter version.
I expounded with the history of the Native Americans and how even though the Pilgrims and the English came into their land as strangers they helped the pilgrims survive.
This is Massasoit, read about his legacy on wikipedia. He prevented the failure of Plymouth Colony and the almost certain starvation of the Pilgrims. He kept his people from converting to Christianity. He pushed peace between tribes and the English. He was a great man, and the main reason there is Thanksgiving.
The sad facts of American history are too much to explain to a six year old but I do want him to know as much truth as he can comprehend. He wanted to know more about the Native Americans, but after a few more sentences, he got bored and ran upstairs to play video games.
I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving. Be mindful of our history in this country but grateful that we've come far for human rights. We have even further to go still and I believe we are a country changing for the better.
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