Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Kids and Genealogy

At our CVGS meeting yesterday, one of the attendees asked the question: "How can we involve kids in genealogy and family history?" He is tutoring middle school kids and some of them seemed interested, or at least curious about it, and he told them that "hunting for ancestors is like being a family detective."

There are a number of books on this subject, and many magazine and online articles also. I found the article "Creating Future Genealogists, Suggestions and Resources" by Mindi Stevens in the May/June 2007 issue of Everton's Genealogical Helper that addresses this question directly, and provided an excellent list of methods of engagement, movies, internet links and a bibliography. The article quotes from these books:

* Ira Wolfman, "Climbing Your Family Tree," New York, Workman Pub. Co., 2002.

* David Weitzman, "My Backyard History Book," Covelo CA, Yolla Bolly Press, 1975.

There are 13 hits in the Ancestry Learning Center using the keyword "kids", including (these are all free to view, by the way):

* "Encouraging Future Family Historians" by Juliana Smith

* "More Genealogy for Kids" by Michael John Neill

* "Getting Kids Hooked on Genealogy" by Barbara Krasner-Khait

Our society colleague said that the word that made the teens pay attention was "detective." That sounds like fun, and if you combine it with "family history detective" and tell stories about your own life or the lives of grandparents or earlier ancestors, you may hold their interest long enough to ask them if they know any family stories or know who their great-grandparents were.

What other words might be helpful in stimulating interest in children and young adults? "sleuth" "hunt" "hunter" "investigator" "digger" "explorer" - those can be combined with words like "genealogy" "roots" "family" "ancestor" "ancestry" to create terms that kids might relate to.

The Mindi Stevens article notes two myths that need to be overcome - that genealogy is only for old people, and that it is boring. Her articles addresses these issues and suggests ways to involve young people in genealogy. Her devious methods of engagement include scrapbooking, talking about family skeletons and traditions, vacations and trips to ancestral homes, ancestry of famous people, collections and heirlooms, etc. She also has a list of family history oriented movies, from Disney's "Tigger" to "Roots" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" and many more.

What has worked for you to get children and youth interested in family history and genealogy? What has your local society done? What other books, articles or web sites do you recommend?

1 comment:

John said...

One idea, that takes a little planning ahead, is to give your child an ancestor's surname as a middle name. As they grow up they will by nature ask you where the name came from, and as you explain about their great grandparent, it will provide a connection to their past they can't get rid of.

It worked on me.