In trying to organize my thoughts on our Washington DC trips, I was scanning through some photos from the trip. There are a lot of pictures of landmarks and museums some with people, some without. Some with kids smiling, others they’re making funny faces. I’ll keep a fraction of the photos we took.
And then there were some pictures that elicited an emotional response because it triggered the memory of a moment. This is one of those photos.
We had taken our group to the Holocaust Museum. We went back and forth whether our younger kids were old enough to handle the subject matter and ultimately, we determined they were and we would filter the information as we made our way through the self-guided tour.
As we walked in, the tour guide saw our young children and suggested we first stop at “Daniel’s Story” – a Holocaust exhibit geared towards children. This was great advice. We had prepped our kids beforehand, but this exhibit was very well done and walked through the life of a child during Hitler’s rise to power and the impact it had on “Daniel”. At the end of the exhibit, there was a display of prompts visitors could fill out and put on the wall. Our kids chose to participate and added their voice to the wall. After Bennett added his voice he stood back to read some of the other thoughts and observations by other visitors. I just watched him read the wall and I could tell by his face he was taking everything in and trying to understand.
Briggs asked several times, “Why didn’t they stop him?” “How did he have friends?” “Why didn’t they just run away?” I’m grateful my kids couldn’t comprehend the evil but it was also a great learning opportunity – one that doesn’t present itself often to kids this age.
After the kids’ exhibit, we moved on to the main exhibit. It was a little crowded and harder for the kids to get close. There was a lot of reading. Bennett and older broke off and went at their own pace and we took the younger kids and moved through a little faster. We walked through a section, looked at all the pictures and summarized the reading sections. Briggs had all sorts of questions – he wanted the details. We skipped several sections that were a little more graphic and not appropriate for their age but they saw a good amount. By the end, they understood a good amount. Which of course just left more questions in their minds but the truth is I think most adults walk through and are asking themselves questions as well.
Hallie took the most time and probably would have stayed much longer if we weren’t waiting for her. There was just so much to take in.
At the very end, there was an area where a flame was burning. The kids were given the opportunity to light candles and then sit quietly in a reflection area. As I sat in the circular area, I saw Hunter across the way – he stood there for a minute watching the flame and reading the inscription and I just watched him take it in. We went to a lot of museums during our time in DC, but very few caused reflection such as this.
