This is the first article in a new series called Kids Genealogy. My goal is to help parents actively engage with their children to teach them about their heritage. I hope you will subscribe.
By fifth grade, many children are learning about heredity in science class. Some teachers incorporate building a family tree into this curriculum. But a child's interest in their family may start even earlier or later. What is one way to get a child interested in genealogy? Tell a story.
Knowing where we came from and the history of our family gives us roots. It helps us understand why we live where we live, eat what we eat, act the way we do, and have the traditions we do. Stories give depth and understanding to our families and bring them to live.
When you start to talk to your child about genealogy or help them get started, these are some questions to ask the child.
- Why do I live where I live? Which part of my family came to this place to settle down? When did they come and why?
- My mom makes special desserts or meals for holidays. Where did those recipes come from?
- Why does she always make those same recipes year after year?Most of us have light colored hair and eyes. Or, most of us have darker colored skin and eyes. What is our background?
- Every year at Christmas my mom places a pickle on the tree and we have to look for it. The child that finds it gets a present. Why do we do this? Where did this tradition come from?
Just starting with a few of those questions will get a child thinking about his roots. The answers will also help the child come to a better understanding of who he is.
Now, where do you start?
Start with what you know. Download and print a Family Tree or Ancestral Chart. The chart starts with one person (the child) and works backwards up the tree to their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, as far back as you can trace.
To complete the family tree complete the following steps:
- The person on the far left of the page is number 1. This is the child. Have your child write his name and vital information here. Vital information is the birth date and place. For your child's parents and beyond it also includes their marriage and death dates and place.
- Above and to your right is your child's father, number 2. Below the father is the mother, number 3. Write the father and mother's names and vital information in those spaces.
- Return to the top of the page and go to number 4. This is the child's grandfather and below him, number 5 is the child's grandmother. In the family tree chart, men are even numbers, women are odd numbers.
Fill in as much of the chart as you can. If you can only go back a few generations, that is ok.
The point today is that you helped your child get started.
Please subscribe to my series and learn more about getting your child interested in their heritage. Up next, learning about the family unit.
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