Do you see yourself as a family historian? You may not spend hours at the computer searching for names, but I bet you’re documenting the lives of the people you love. The things is, there’s one more thing you can do to make your family’s history exponentially more powerful.
I remember going as a child to my great-grandpa’s farm house Sundays after church. We’d eat green grapes and macaroon chocolates and spend whole afternoons playing in the farmyard.
One of my favorite things to do was find a quiet corner in the living room and pull out the old photo albums, pouring over pages and pages of black-and-white photos.
I could hear the adults talking and siblings and cousins playing in the backyard as I took in all the details of the photographs, wondering about these people I’d never met and imagining what life must have been like for them.
Fast forward a dozen years and it was my love of photos that prompted within me an instinct to start documenting my children’s lives the moment they were born. I began documenting their lives, primarily through photographs, and sharing them on a little blog I called “Simple As That.”
Recording their stories—our family’s stories—as they unfolded became so important to me as I filled up blog posts, scrapbooks, and journals and as I snapped photo after photo…after photo!
I recently attended a global family history event in Salt Lake City called Roots Tech, and the message that filled my heart after days of listening to people so passionate about family history is this:
We’re not preserving our stories for some unknown future date. These stories are for NOW.
I realized that although I’ve been actively recording my family’s story, I haven’t been as active about instilling our stories in my children’s hearts.
It’s a critical but I think often missing piece of the puzzle.
Our stories bind together the past and present, give a glimpse of the soul, and help our children master the art of listening. {What Children Gain When You Open Up}
Bruce Feiler, author of The Secrets of Happy Families, asserts that “knowing more about family history is the single biggest predictor of a child’s emotional well-being.”
3 People Whose Stories Your Children Deserve to Know
1. Yours.
Have you told your children what school was like before the Internet? Do they know what you wanted to be when you grew up—when you were their age? Do they know how you and your husband met?
I think as parents—and especially mothers—we sometimes let our stories fade deeply into the background as we help our children live out their own. But letting them know us can help deepen our relationships.
2. Your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.
When I think about my grandparents, I long for my children to know them. They can’t, but through me, they can know so much.
3. Their own.
Have you ever noticed how a young child, even one who barely knows how to talk, will latch onto a story from their life and tell it over and over? There’s something to that.
By reminding them about hard things they’ve done or times when they’ve showed kindness, we can reinforce the character traits we hope they’ll take into adulthood.
Which brings me to…
The Very Best Kinds of Stories
The best stories show children that members of their family have overcome hard things (job losses, financial troubles, health challenges, etc.), and that by extension, they can too.
I left the Roots Tech conference with a fire in me, a determination to find and share family stories with my children and relatives—not for some far-off day, but now.
If you, like me, have every wondered how to find your place in the whole spectrum of family history, I hope you’ll take this impactful step with me.
Our stories connect us.
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I could NOT agree more! Love this concept, Rebecca! It was such a beautiful message to come away from Roots Tech with, and I hope it reaches a lot of families.
This is my favorite topic! I has watched RootsTech on their site since the first year. Genealogy and computers are my happy place. Many of the classes are being added to YouTube.
Yes! I am happy to say that I am our family genealogist and historian. I am the youngest of 6 and I am I am 60 years old! No one else has time right or interest even though they are older. I am lucky because my siblings deposit their photos and genealogy with me.
I have documented my children’s lives and currently my grandchildren. I do digital project life for my husband and I. I have published a genealogy scrapbook/history book for my paternal side. Now I am compiling the photos and stories for my maternal side. She had many siblings so I am struggling to collect my cousins photos. My ancestors are the easy part, it is the living families who struggle to “see the light” and send me their photos.
I love the continuing RootsTech topic of Stories, that is what draws our children and g’children.
Thanks so much for sharing!
This is why adoption records must be unsealed and closed adoptions banned so us 10 million adoptees across Canada and the USA can know their heritage too without having to wait a drastically long time and pay a fortune.
So beautiful!