Photograph: Michael Shanley

Okay, so you’ve convinced your kid to accompany you on a visit to the Brooklyn Museum. Now you’ve got to keep him interested. Terry Carbone, curator of American art, has some advice on where to kick off the visit and how to engage your child. First, she says, have him carefully examine the animals in The Peaceable Kingdom (detail, left). Then ask: “Do you notice anything strange?” If your babe’s perceptive, he’ll realize that the lion is calmly sharing a straw snack with the ox—rather than eating him alive—and that the lamb is horsing around on the leopard’s back, as opposed to running for his life in a panic. American painter Edward Hicks’s 1833–34 oil on canvas depicts an ideal world in which natural enemies have made peace. “The artist encourages us to find gentleness and give up aggression,” says Carbone. Based on a biblical verse (Isaiah 11:6–9), the painting inspires the viewer to reach out to people who may at first seem unlikely to be friends. It’s a great lesson for kids gearing up for the social trials of preadolescence and beyond. Ready to check out the work? Head to the American Identities Gallery on the museum’s fifth floor.