Taking the Kids: Learning about our presidents from visiting their homes
A visit to Hyde Park, New York, the boyhood home of Franklin D. Roosevelt and later, his wife Eleanor Roosevelt also offers the chance to learn more about the extraordinary woman Eleanor Roosevelt was, ahead of her times in many respects. This is also the place for kids to see that disability isn't necessarily a barrier to success in life. Roosevelt famously resumed his political career three years after he was crippled by polio and became governor of New York, and in short order, president by a landslide. (Kids may also not know that he inspired the March of Dimes program that eventually funded an effective polio vaccine.)
In Austin, Texas, you can visit the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library on the campus of the University of Texas but even more interesting is the LBJ Ranch (about an hour's drive in the Hill Country west of Austin) where LBJ is buried and where you'll find his modest childhood home.
And in Plains, Georgia, there's Jimmy Carter’s boyhood farm where rangers lead weekend walks and demonstrations. (Have you ever seen peanut boiling?) Kids will love the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail, made possible by Mrs. Carter's desire to make the public aware of the declining monarch butterfly population.
It's good for kids to see that those who became president didn't always come from wealth or privilege. That's especially true of Abraham Lincoln and you can see a reconstructed log cabin on what had been the Lincoln farm in southern Indiana where there is a living historical farm -- a working pioneer homestead with animals, gardens and crop fields. Many families visit the Lincoln home in Springfield, Illinois, where he lived with his family and the four-block-long historic area that focus on the Lincolns' family life here.
Remember that with the "Every Kid in a Park," initiative, fourth-graders and their families get in to national parks and historic sites for free. Just make sure to go online to get your pass in advance. (And grandparents, you can get an Interagency Senior Passfor $10, once you are 62. This pass provides access to all federal recreation sites for you and every passenger in your car. A free Access Pass is available for those with permanent disabilities.
TIP: Should you visit a president's home this election year, let the kids do a little research in advance. See what special family activities may be offered, download the Junior Ranger booklet (though you can usually get one once you arrive). Read a book about that president's childhood.
You'll be amazed what the kids will teach you!
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(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and follow @takingthekids on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Check out the latest books in Eileen's Kid's Guide series -- a new edition of the Kid's Guide to NYC and the Kid's Guide to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.)
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