Remembering Family History

Parents want their kids to be their own person and navigate the world in their own specific way — but in doing so we don’t want them to forget their roots and where they came from. A great way to teach your kids about their genealogy and their ancestors is to make a family tree. It will require some work — but if you enlist their help then you can teach them who is who while you’re creating the tree together.

The first step in the planning process is to make a decision on just how far back you want to go — how many generations do you want on the tree? Now comes the hard part: getting pictures. In order to make the tree fun and interactive you’ll need pictures of each family member.

Next decision: the orientation of the tree — do you want the branches running horizontally or vertically? Now, grab your kids, some scissors, glue sticks, a big poster board and get to work. You can start from the oldest generation and work your way forward, or start from the youngest and work your way backward. Just glue the picture on and then write the person’s name underneath. As you and your kids do this be sure and explain to them who each person is — where were they born? What did they do? How did they meet their spouse?

Author: Aaron Bharucha