What better way to reconnect with your whole family than sharing stories about them? It’s not just great knowledge to pass down from generation to generation but research shows that kids especially those who are more familiar with family stories and backgrounds tend to be more resilient than their peers. It provides children with a sense of belonging that comes from knowing who they are and where they fit into the whole family unit. Many of us have family members who were alive during some of the best and remarkable moments in history. Many have family members who immigrated to this country. Many of us have family members who created businesses, products, services or maybe even someone famous and the list goes on.
So, what’s the recipe for this conversation? Try these questions to get started and see where they take you.
- Do you recall any conversations with relatives who lived through some major world event?
- What do you know about their story?
- What do you think those family members learned from their experiences?
- What do you think their story can teach us?
- Where are our relatives from and how did they get here?
- What did they do to earn a living?
- Name a memory you have of a family member.
Sit down with your family, share stories and encourage them to learn lessons from the past. Keep those stories alive so that your children can pass them down and hopefully their children and their children’s children will have stories to share about you for generations to come.