FAMILY TIME IS PRECIOUS! TRY AN ‘EVENT IDEA’ AND USE FAMILY TIME TO INSPIRE CHILDREN TO LOVE FAMILY HISTORY!

Encourage family members to write a poem or a song about an ancestor. Hold an ‘Open Mic Night’ and let everyone share what they came up with!

If your children like celebrations they will love to do an ancestor celebration! Involve your children as much as possible. Choose a country where your ancestors lived or a specific family to celebrate. You may choose to celebrate with immediate family or invite extended family to participate. It can be done simply as a dinner or more elaborately as an entire evening or day of activities. Make a special meal based on the country or the family of your ancestors. If possible, involve children in the cooking. Here are some ideas to make the celebration more elaborate:

Prepare and act out a skit about an ancestor.
Tell stories from an ancestor’s life.
Learn a game from the country.
Have a guest who recently lived in or visited that country and ask him or her to share about it.
Display a project a child has done about the ancestor (such as a map or timeline).
Bring out and share a family heirloom.

Idea from Quentin L. Cook

For a “family tree gathering…everyone would bring existing family histories, stories, and photos, including cherished possessions of grandparents and parents…young people are excited to learn about the lives of family members—where they came from and how they lived…They love the stories and photos, and they have the technological expertise to scan and upload these stories and photos to Family Tree and connect source documents with ancestors to preserve these for all time.” This can be a recurring event.

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is an example of an ancestor holiday. It is traditionally celebrated November 1st and 2nd each year and commemorates a family’s ancestors. Create your own family holiday to celebrate your ancestors. Children love holidays and are sure to be inspired to love family history while celebrating their ancestors! An ancestor holiday is similar to an ancestor celebration but it is more general because instead of focusing on a specific individual, family or country, you can celebrate all of your ancestors. It can be celebrated on any day your family chooses and can be a yearly tradition or something done whenever your family desires. You and/or your children may want to make a special meal and a display on your table which can be done in the following way:

Set out one picture of each ancestor whom you have a picture of.
Lay out books that were written by or about your ancestors.
Display heirlooms from various ancestors.
Display projects you or your children have done about ancestors, like maps and timelines.
Arrange all items nicely and put ancestors’ pictures next to the heirlooms, books or projects that are associated with them.

For the dinner, choose an ancestor’s recipe from your family cookbook. During the day spend time together preparing the food, creating the display and practicing a skit from a story of one of your ancestors. Once everything is ready, you can begin the evening with dinner. Next your children can present the display by sharing what they know about each ancestor represented, explaining the projects they have created and describing the significance of each heirloom. You will see what they remember about each ancestor. The display can be explained by another family member if it seems more appropriate.

Plan or attend a family reunion. It can be small with close family or large with many extended family members. You may meet new family members or get to know those you don’t see often. You may hear new stories and collect information. Bonds are created or strengthened and memories are shared. There are many resources available for planning a family reunion, but do not over complicate it. The simpler the reunion, the easier it is to plan, organize and make happen. It can be as simple as a family reunion picnic or as elaborate as traveling together to a designated location for an extended period. You may be able to incorporate many other ideas into a family reunion. Look for ideas that would inspire other family members.

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