Children
Of course there were children in the seventeenth century - so why pretend that they didn't exist? We get our children in the regiment involved early and try to keep them enthusiastic and busy until they can choose their own path in Hammond's.
We have all sorts of things that the children can do. We have very kind members of the regiment that offer to look after children while their parents are on the battlefied, and the regiment does all that it can to support them, and to make sure that we don't take advantage of their kindness. We also have lots of things for the kids to do on the Living History Campsite depending on their age. We have youngsters looking after firewood and firewatching, we have lots of authentic games for them to play, we have scaled down weapons for them to learn how to use, and once they get to a certain age they can maybe join the drummers and take part in parades and marches.
We are also fortunate to have a couple of remarkable story tellers in the regiment, and they can hold children (and the adults) transfixed with their stories of the Civil Wars, and how it affected them and their families. Honestly, keep children running around all day in the open air, feed them well, and sit them down around a campfire with a story and a sing-song and they'll quickly drop off to sleep once you tuck them safely up in bed. Leaving the adults to have some quality time for themselves.
We are also fortunate to have a couple of remarkable story tellers in the regiment, and they can hold children (and the adults) transfixed with their stories of the Civil Wars, and how it affected them and their families. Honestly, keep children running around all day in the open air, feed them well, and sit them down around a campfire with a story and a sing-song and they'll quickly drop off to sleep once you tuck them safely up in bed. Leaving the adults to have some quality time for themselves.
