How to share family history with grandkids in a way they can appreciate?
You know, in a way that makes them realize their family’s past?
(Photos help a lot).
How do you tell stories about great-grandparents and further back?
How do we make them care?
By linking it to them and their lives.
How to share family possessions
Obviously, it depends on what you have.
I pulled out glasses over Christmas to set on the table.
But, as I held one in my hand, I realized a teaching moment.
My entire family stood, waiting to go down the buffet line.
After I gave directions, I held up the glass.
“One more thing. See this glass in my hand?”
The teenagers glowered. They were hungry.
“This belonged to my grandmother.”
I nodded to my children, “Your great-grandmother.”
And then to the next generation. “Your great-great-grandmother.”
The room went silent as they stared at me.
“If you find one of these glasses at your place setting, know you’re drinking out of history. That is all.”
They laughed and got their food.
But several admired the glass now that I’d pointed it out.
They got it.
Sharing family history with a gift
Or, what on earth do I do with all these doilies?
The summer before she died, my mother showed me a box stuffed with lace.
“Your grandmother made all of these. This is where they are in case anything happens to me. They’ll be yours.”
Thanks, Mom. I lived in Hawai’i without any room in my luggage for trinkets — much less doilies.
Eventually, we returned to the mainland. The large box stuffed with linens found its way to me.
I’ve been mining it ever since.
When a niece or nephew gets married, they get a doily.
I usually have it framed. Now they have something their ancestor made.
Last year, I gave a tablecloth to a niece. I knew she’d like it.
Born several years after my mom’s death, she was named for my mom, but never knew her.
Her great-grandmother was an even more ancient concept.
But she loved receiving it.
Significant tools or books make excellent gifts
The tools, of course. The books always work.
One of my sons is a high-tech machinist.
His paternal grandfather was a high-tech engineer who built things.
My husband found his father’s tool book from 70 years ago.
Facts are still true.
Our son loved it–and uses it at work today!
Sharing family legends–or at least questions
Why does this book have a bullet hole in it?
I have no idea. I found it among my paternal grandmother’s possessions.
But, think of the questions it prompted in the kids?
“Any guesses?”
They had plenty of ideas.
It helped, for some, when I opened the cover, and they saw what type of book it was!
School Arithmetic: Analytical and Practical, published in 1868, provided the springboard for quite a discussion.
It belonged to my grandfather, born in Texas.
He was really good at math.
So are all his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren!
But why did someone shoot the book?
Did it make a difference that it belonged, first, to his mother’s late first husband?
What about the date: May 1, 1893?
And we were off. Conversations abound.
Could this have been where their fine math skills came from?
Who knows?
No physical reminders?
Not everyone has a physical item to share with their grandkids to pass down family history.
Stories, though, or just imagining, can help.
You may not know beyond your parents.
But you know the times and experiences they had.
It helps the grandchildren and the children connect with their place in the world.
Their histories.
And it can ultimately connect them more closely to you.
You’re their ancestor, right?
Thoughts? Reactions? Lurker?