If you want to give the kids a good look at what the dust bowl was like, check out the movie and book "Grapes of wrath".
That is the way we came to California, with the chickens tied to the running boards of an old buick.
We were lucky, as Aun Corene had married a man who worked on a ranch in the Merced area, so we had a place to go.
But we also lived in the fruit camps, while picking fruit, I still bear scars from there, before 1940.
Another movie, that captures the era is the movie "The Egg and I".
Even my dad thought he could get rich with chickens.....LOL
But some of the WW2 servicemen used the GI Bill to get a start with raising chickens and did miss it.
I haven't seen either movie in years.
I do know what you are talking about, my grandaughter is 23 and everytime she calls, I wind up yelling at her to quit
buying everything she sees on TV.
She at least asks and learns about the old days.
Your children will be fine people, due to the fact that you care about them and how they grow up.
Thanks granny! I'll try to get a hold of those two movies, and if I can't I'll make sure the oldest reads "Grapes of Wrath". I've never read it myself, so I guess we'll read it together! (o: