How to Teach Your Kids About Their Heritage
For many people, family is everything. But a lot of children and grandchildren go through life without ever really knowing too much about who they are and where they came from. Despite this, it’s this link to the past that keeps traditions going and encourages us to remember what our ancestors experienced and the lessons they learned.
If you feel like your kids are not involved enough or do not respect their heritage, there are ways for you to excite them. Although they may not seem too keen immediately, a little history lesson can be more exciting than what they go through at school, so here are a few incredible ways to teach your kids about their heritage.
Speak To Grandma
Few people know more about the past than grandma. If you’re lucky enough to still have your mom with you, she can share an array of important life lessons with your kids and teach them all about her early life.
She can also share stories about her parents and maybe even her grandparents. Their stories can paint a vivid picture of what life was like back in a time that is entirely different from now, and there may be some family rumors or secrets that can make these stories much more exciting.
Get Into the Kitchen
Food brings people together but it can also make people feel more connected to their home and heritage no matter where they are. If you love to cook and want to inspire this passion in your kids, getting into the kitchen and sharing family recipes is a superb way to celebrate your heritage.
These recipes can become a weekly event, with you and your kids testing out something new to explore flavors and combinations that have been passed down through generations. It also teaches your kids essential life skills, making them more prepared for the day they move out to make it on their own.
Search for Family Heirlooms
Family heirlooms are another superb way to feel more connected to the past, and you might stumble across things more often than you think. Old jewelry boxes or even a shoebox stashed under the bed could be a treasure trove of family heirlooms, even if the findings aren’t always that valuable.
These heirlooms could also inspire you to create heirlooms of your own when a loved one passes. Services such as Memorials can help you immortalize your family through a range of options which means you can keep a little of your heritage close by for future generations.
Take a Trip
Sometimes, it’s not enough to tell your kids about where you are from and your experiences growing up. Often, you need to show them. And, there’s no better way to show them than by taking a road trip to your hometown and introducing them to all the places you visited and spent time while you were growing up.
Road trips are a fantastic way for you to bond with one another, and if some of your kids are old enough to drive, they can handle some of the journey, which will make them feel more connected to the experience. Once you arrive back home, take them to some of your old haunts and see how much has changed.
Look Through Old Photo Albums
If you’re anything like a generation of adults, you probably have tens of photo albums stashed away in the attic or the basement. These albums show how you and your family have grown throughout the years, while some may even stretch back to before you were born.
If your family moved over from another country or another city, you can discover all the cultures surrounding this different environment. You might even find photos of unfamiliar traditions that grab your attention.
Pilfer Through Old Junk
Every household has boxes of old junk they aren’t sure they want to throw away. There’s usually a good reason for this. They know deep down there could be something interesting hidden inside, and it’s only a matter of time before curiosity gets the better of them.
While this old junk may not seem like much from the outside, digging deeper may uncover a range of exciting and interesting things from your family’s past. Things like letters, military medals, and loose photographs tell a fascinating story, even if you need to search harder to find out where that story begins.
Incorporate Old Family Traditions
Even if you don’t realize it, your family has traditions. Some are cultural, brought over from the day your parents or grandparents left their home country and settled somewhere for a better life. Others are simply small, silly traditions you have always done and what connects you as a family.
And even if you don’t have traditions that you love, you can maybe start new traditions instead. Such traditions are all about bringing your family together and finding a connection only you understand. So, if you want to encourage more interest in heritage, think about the traditions you and your people may have left behind and reintroduce them to your family.
Climb the Family Tree
Family trees offer exceptional insight into your family history. If you can find a copy of your family tree, it’s much easier to trace generations back and discover who shared your genes (and maybe even your name) all those years ago.
If you can’t find a copy, you can still use ancestry-tracing sites and services to get a better idea of where your family lived, what they did, and where they are buried, which gives you the impetus to explore your history even more.
Heritage
Your kids will not know how interesting your family history is until you show them and even let them find some common ground between them and their ancestors. Whether you take them back to where you grew up or you explore the stretching limbs of the family tree (or even pick anything in between), your kids will develop a greater appreciation for their family history, and they will be proud to bear your flag.
