Jennifer
Latest posts by Jennifer (see all)
- MYTHBUSTING:Memory-Keeping Myth #1 - April 7, 2017
- What Does My Everyday Life Have to do with Family History? - March 31, 2017
- Four Creative Ideas for Sharing Family Stories - March 24, 2017
It’s Family History Friday here at Evolve! What do you know about family history? What does that even mean? What does it entail? And what difference does it make?
Well, you might be surprised.
One aspect of family history, of course, is in the past. Not surprising due to the word “history,” right? But did you know that another aspect of family history is the present? We are living history right now. Events that make up our life story are our history. Life changes are our history, and those happen all the time. Right now. So family history involves looking to both the past and the present to capture and preserve what will be meaningful in the future. Family history is essentially the story of your family.
Each Friday on Evolve! we’ll be looking at one aspect of family history, and we’ll do that through inspiration, ideas, motivation, solutions, and some really fun stuff, too.
For example, did you know that one way to make ancestors really come alive is to create a playing card deck with their names, faces, dates, and interesting facts?
I told you! Really fun stuff.
There are lots of ways to make connections within your family, and I really love thinking outside the box and finding special and unique ways to bring people together and help them make connections. And there are some awesome benefits of knowing family history, too. In fact, many of them have been proven in scientific studies! Children who are familiar with family stories have more robust identities and a sense of belonging. Teenagers have higher self-esteem and lower incidents of depression and anxiety. Connecting to your family story and legacy, both from the past and in the present, increases gratitude and gives a sense of perspective and purpose. Knowing what other members of our family have experienced and overcome gives us hope and strength.
So let’s explore LOTS of ways to bring the story of your family (family history) into everyday life. It makes an enormous difference, and it can be a whole lot of fun at the same time! This month, we’ll look at different ways to preserve and share family stories. See you next week.
~Jennifer
Family History Playing Card Deck created at www.heritagemakers.com/jenniferwise
[…] decks are great options. Remember the “family love stories” book I showed you in {my first #familyhistoryfriday post} a couple weeks ago? There are lots of directions you can go for telling family stories. […]