Want to have fun as a family and teach your children about Who they really are? I'm positive they are thinking of how much fun you can have searching through cemeteries. Right? No? Really?
If you mention to your children that you are planning a Family History Vacation you'd better have a ear muffs to protect you from the shouts of, No Way! So let's go about this from left field and under the cover of 3 Flags or whatever.
Start by making a list of places your ancestors lived, traveled through, were buried. Now look up what FUN things are happening in those areas and there you go! Ok, maybe it won't be quite that easy, but it does help to have what kids think are fun.
Imagine teaching them how to play a game of horseshoes under the trees at the end of a day of swimming, have a container of old photos to sort through on rainy days. If you have older relatives you could visit and share or hear stories about life when they were young, then according to socialologists you will be helping them develop a foundation of Self that can give them the strength to stand strong through difficult times, as I wrote about a few weeks ago.
Let me share with you about one such family get together I was blessed to be at... At the time our Grandmother Dorothy turning 75, and her brothers and sister gathered to swap stories of their lives just after the turn of the century.
That was during a time when kids rode a bus to and from school but still tilled the fields with horses or oxen and drove a horse and buggy to and from Church or on a date. I remember Great Uncle Bill talking about picking up his best girl, that became his wife of 50+ years.
Everyone in the family knew his plans, and to tease him they made sure to have every horse off either getting shoed or running errands except for the one buggy trained horse nick-named appropriately, Toots. Yep! Toots had a very gas-sy disposition, and tooted with every step she took, making a nervous gent sweat bullets the night he asked her to marry him.
This started a series of 'I can do one better than that' stories that were hilarious! From stealing Old Man Tate's watermelons to the manuer pile that exploded. Since that time I've found that when you want the best 'never told' stories, you just gather the old folks and ask them about the most embarrassing thing that ever happened as they were growing up. You will hear things long forgotten.
Another hint I was given a few years ago was to find where your ancestor lived and find the oldest living neighbors. Even if they were only children when your family lived next door, the stories of 'remember when' will often be passed down through the decades about the old woman who always cared for the sick, or the soldier who came back without his left arm but never asked help from anyone.
At the beginning of the next school year the 'Cool' kids will crow about spending time at 6 Flags while your kids have memories that will last a life time.
