Want to get tongue-tied? Try explaining segregation, nonviolence and the assassination of a national hero to a 6-year-old.
But there's a joy in conveying your core values to children that trumps the hazards, so with Martin Luther King Jr. Day fast approaching on Monday, we consulted Doreen Rappaport, author of the award-winning children's book "Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." (Hyperion).
"Dr. King is a model of courage and persistence and determination," she said. "Here is somebody who grew up in the hideous time of racial segregation, which really made kids and adults feel they were inferior, and this man preached that hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do it. That's extraordinary. It's really an extraordinary lesson in forgiveness, in understanding history and yet insisting that it can be changed."
Young children aren't ready for all the details of the message, she says, but they can understand the heart of it. "It wasn't like today" when Martin Luther King Jr. was alive, she might tell a 6-year-old. "If something happens today, you can go to your teacher and tell him or her that somebody was misbehaving and your teacher will help you solve the problem."
But in the 1950s, black people didn't have someone in power to turn to when white people did the wrong thing, Rappaport says.
"I think what you can say to children is sometimes when there's no one to help, we try to bring attention to the problem in a different way. And marching and demonstrating and walking and holding signs that say 'We want peace' and 'Freedom now' is another way to show the world what's going on without lifting your fist."
Little kids can also understand the basic history of the civil rights movement, she says. Just keep it simple.
She would include that the Declaration of Independence says that "all men are created equal," but for a long time black people in the U.S. were not treated equally. King was one of many black leaders fighting to make "all men are created equal" come true.
Mention the basics of the Montgomery Bus Boycott: Black people refused to ride the buses because they couldn't sit where they wanted. They had to walk long distances in the rain and in very hot weather. You can ask kids how that would have felt.
Sticking to the high points, explain that many people, black and white, wanted to help King, and they came to Washington, D.C., to show their support.
"Buses came from all over," Rappaport says. "The government was worried there would be too many people. ... But it was just like Dr. King's speech. It was a day of peace and love."
You can also include a short reading from the "I Have a Dream" speech and ask them what their dream is.
Kids may be familiar with the famous passage, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
But Rappaport suggests reading another passage as well: "I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama ... little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."