The Family Attic
Published April 2007
Roots to the Past
Genealogy - It's a Family Thing
by Diana Lynn Tibert
How many
times have you wished you had started researching your family tree when
you were younger? We can’t go back in time, but we can give future
genealogists - our children and grandchildren - a
head start.
Children and adults are interested in things for different reasons; when washing a car, adults want to clean - kids want to play in the water. Bombarding children with rules, endless (meaningless to them) data and hours in the archives is not the way to capture their interest.
Start their journey by creating a simple pedigree chart with three generations. In most cases, everyone in the chart will be familiar and still alive. The kids can relate to them.
Instead of using only names and data, create one with photographs. It can be on construction paper or Bristol board. Use lots of colour, stickers or anything else the child wants to decorate with. If they are old enough to write, get them to enter the names and birth dates beside each photograph. Once complete, it can be hung where everyone can appreciate it or taken to school for show and tell. Store these pedigree charts in the child’s genealogy keepsake box.
Scrapbooking is growing in popularity, making supplies readily available and more affordable. Creating a page for each member of the immediate family, grandparents, aunts and uncles is a great way to preserve the information that is commonly known now. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Children have their own opinions on how things are arranged. Your job is to make sure the information such as the name spellings, dates and places are correct.
A few years ago, I found a publication series, “My Mother (or Father, Grandmother, Grandfather) and Me - A Memory Scrapbook for Kids” published by Kids Can Press. Created like a picture book, children enter data on the particular relative, compare their lives, fill in a three-generation family tree chart and add photos.
Genealogy vacations are great ways to involve children in family history. Visit places where you, your parents and grandparents were born and raised. Stop at old homesteads, schools, churches and other significant places. Take pictures to use in scrapbooks or albums.
While travelling, make comments such as, ‘I remember visiting Nanny when she lived there. She had eight kids’. Even on short drives past familiar places, remark about where, what and who. For example, ‘my Dad used to work there’ or ‘Nanny and Poppy lived there before they moved to . . .’ My parents naturally did this, so my head is filled with family history that I now pass on to my children.
The first time my daughter visited a cemetery, she was in a baby car seat. Since then, she and her younger siblings have been in dozens of cemeteries helping me find family members. These visits help nurture a respect for burial grounds that hopefully will last a lifetime and create individuals who preserve these places instead of vandalizing them.
Keep genealogy ‘lessons’ short and simple. Hopefully, they’ll be begging for more.
head start.Children and adults are interested in things for different reasons; when washing a car, adults want to clean - kids want to play in the water. Bombarding children with rules, endless (meaningless to them) data and hours in the archives is not the way to capture their interest.
Start their journey by creating a simple pedigree chart with three generations. In most cases, everyone in the chart will be familiar and still alive. The kids can relate to them.
Instead of using only names and data, create one with photographs. It can be on construction paper or Bristol board. Use lots of colour, stickers or anything else the child wants to decorate with. If they are old enough to write, get them to enter the names and birth dates beside each photograph. Once complete, it can be hung where everyone can appreciate it or taken to school for show and tell. Store these pedigree charts in the child’s genealogy keepsake box.
Scrapbooking is growing in popularity, making supplies readily available and more affordable. Creating a page for each member of the immediate family, grandparents, aunts and uncles is a great way to preserve the information that is commonly known now. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Children have their own opinions on how things are arranged. Your job is to make sure the information such as the name spellings, dates and places are correct.
A few years ago, I found a publication series, “My Mother (or Father, Grandmother, Grandfather) and Me - A Memory Scrapbook for Kids” published by Kids Can Press. Created like a picture book, children enter data on the particular relative, compare their lives, fill in a three-generation family tree chart and add photos.
Genealogy vacations are great ways to involve children in family history. Visit places where you, your parents and grandparents were born and raised. Stop at old homesteads, schools, churches and other significant places. Take pictures to use in scrapbooks or albums.
While travelling, make comments such as, ‘I remember visiting Nanny when she lived there. She had eight kids’. Even on short drives past familiar places, remark about where, what and who. For example, ‘my Dad used to work there’ or ‘Nanny and Poppy lived there before they moved to . . .’ My parents naturally did this, so my head is filled with family history that I now pass on to my children.
The first time my daughter visited a cemetery, she was in a baby car seat. Since then, she and her younger siblings have been in dozens of cemeteries helping me find family members. These visits help nurture a respect for burial grounds that hopefully will last a lifetime and create individuals who preserve these places instead of vandalizing them.
Keep genealogy ‘lessons’ short and simple. Hopefully, they’ll be begging for more.
Copyright@Diana
Lynn Tibert 2006