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eLearning Series: Geneology
My Family Tree is Important to Me
( 50 articles in this series )
Ancestral
Detective Work: Bond With Your Kids
Getting your kids involved in researching
your ancestral history is a great way to bond with your kids
as well as teach your kids about your family history. It also
gives the parents time to spend quality time with their kids.
It can be a fun and entertaining project.
Start
by writing down your own name, birth date, place of
birth, parents, husband, wife (or domestic partner), date of
marriage, place of marriage, children's complete names and
their dates of birth. The easiest way to get all this information
in an organized manner would be to fill out a family information
sheet. These can be found many places on the internet. One
of the most used sites to locate this sheet is www.ancestry.com.
Getting your children to help you fill these forms out will
enable your kids to learn everything about their own families.
Some kids will find this to be boring, so it’s up to the parents
to make this job fun. Many parents do this by sharing stories
about their wedding, or how they met their spouse, or something
silly their father did in college that made you start dating
him. This will give the kids a chance to learn about your history,
as well as allow you to reminisce about the old days. Be prepared
for your kids to think you are weird and strange, and also
be prepared for them to laugh. You did it to your parents and
you will be cursed by them doing it to you, so just be prepared.
Once you get all your sheets done, you may want to get the
sheets for your parents, siblings, grandparents and other family
members going as far back as you can remember. Call some family
members if you have too. They usually don’t mind sharing. If
nothing else, they will be glad to hear from you, and once
you tell them why you are calling, they may even do the same
thing.
Now when you are doing your parents charts, do the same thing.
Tell your kids stories about growing up. This sounds really
corny, but it will be a good bonding experience. They are your
legacy; you will live forever through them. Shouldn’t more
than just your DNA be immortalized? Tell them stories about
your parents and grandparents when you were growing up. They
may realize they don’t have it as bad as they think.
Once you get all this information, you may consider taking
a trip to the library. Most public libraries have a genealogy
department where you can research your family names. If nothing
else you can teach your kids all about the library and how
it works and what to do there.
Another good place to do some research is ancestry.com. This
website is one of the most popular tools for researching your
family history.
No matter how you do it, or where you get the information
from, involving your kids in researching the family history
can be a great educational experience, for both you and your
kids. You will get to tell them stories about your past. Your
parents probably also have some stories to share. Your kids
may even tell you some stories of their own. It can be a fun,
educational, and bonding experience.
Learning one’s history can also bring about a pride that was
not there before. You learn about family crests and family
colors. Your kids will learn that they are not just a name,
but someone with a history. You may be able to trace your family
back to a knight or a king or someone great. If your kids know
where they come from and who they came from, they can walk
proud of where they came from.
Once you are done with your project, you should put it something
that will last for years. You can give it to your children
later in life, when they can add to it with their own family.
They can continue where you left off, making the bond and pride
stronger. They can share it with their children and their children’s
children, making it a family tradition; a family tradition
that you started. That should make you proud.
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by SolveYourProblem.com
: 2006
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