A Project With Each of Your Children or Grandchildren

Yesterday, I had a delightful time in an effort to complete a five-generation pedigree chart on a few of my family lines. The time spent was so pleasurable that I was amazed that five hours had passed without even an urge to eat or sleep or move around. Now, this morning, the thought struck me for a wonderful activity with your children.

Why not prepare a pedigree chart for each of them to display in their bedroom. One could make it as simple or as eloquent (with pictures, etc.) as desired. The fun of doing it together is what I am envisioning. There are so many internet sites that would enable you to find records and pictures of ancestors. I found success by Googling names that I knew and wallaaaa… there was the name. Of course, not every name was easy to find, but I did have lots of success. In fact, just for fun, I followed one name through and it carried me almost exactly to 1000 AD! (Of course I had to write them all down on the back of my poster-size pedigree chart for future reference.)

I am confident your children will be amazed with the names, dates and places of birth and deaths that you will find about your ancestors. I can’t wait to tell my Rachael Ann about an ancestor with the name of Rachel Ann Canarda. She was born in Tennessee in 1813. I didn’t even know we had ancestors from Tennessee!

Anyway, you get the idea I hope. Spend some pleasurable time making these pedigree charts with your children or grandchildren and I know you’ll never have any regrets.

Make Plans for Summertime Reading

I think the following idea (if followed through with) would be very beneficial for your child and the outcome would be a treasure to be talked about and remembered for years to come.

Get a sketch pad or binder with blank paper for each child. Have art supplies ready for all. Now, have your children read books of their choosing during the summer. Each time your child finishes reading a book, ask him to write down the book’s title and author. Then have him draw his favorite scene from the story. As each picture is completed, add it to the child's binder.

This binder will grow thicker as more and more books are read and illustrations are made. Can you imagine Grandma admiring the creative work? Can you imagine your child’s sense of accomplishment as he reviews all the books read and pictures drawn. Over a period of time, your budding artist may even see improvement in his art ability. I wish I would have had this motivation as a child. I loved to draw but could never think of new things to draw. Books could really give way to your child’s imagination with drawing.

Penelope Leach, Ph.D. (Psychologist and author of Your Baby and Child) said, “If you’ve been around kids, particularly young kids, for any length of time, [you know] it’s absolutely true that all the most important things in life are learned through play.”

Now, my question is, is there enough play going on when a child sits in front of a television or a video game? Kids are mesmerized by television and video games. Thus, stuck to the “Boob tube,” they make less demands on their parents time and this gives parents the freedom to play the things they want to play. Ahhh! Could this be true? Yes, I’ve been there and done that. Perhaps not consciously, but the T.V. can be a great babysitter. Is that really what you want for your child--your grandchild? If so, then read no further. If you want a list of things you and your child can do to minimize time spent in front of the screen, here’s some things your child and you can do together:
1) As my mother-in-law used to call it, “water your toes.” Turn on the hose, fill a bucket, paint the sidewalk with water, make handprints with water, splash water. Use a cup and count how many cups of water are in the bucket 2) As you kick a ball, feel the wind in your face or the warm sun on your face, neck, head. 3) Chase each other. Include friends in a game of tag. 4) Have a tea party—even with your son(s). Dress up and let children pretend they’re adults. 5) Learn how to bounce and dribble a ball. 6) Wear each other out learning how to jump rope again. 7) Lift up rocks and boards and find creatures under them. Look at them through a magnifier. 8) Catch grasshoppers, frogs, lady bugs, ants. What do their bodies feel like—smooth, slimy, rough? 9) Make some mud and squish your hands and toes in it. Make mud pies. Let the mud dry on your skin. How does it feel. (I was just thinking the children are such a wonderful excuse to play and be a kid again.) 10) Find caterpillars and learn about them as you touch them. 11) Pull up grass by its roots and eat the white end of the root and pretend that you’ll never run out of food as long as there’s “grass-root soup” to be made. (Make sure no chemicals or fertilizers have put on the lawn recently.) 12) Blow up balloons and then let the air out slowly. Be animated by the sounds they make. Let them fly. 13) Fill balloons with water and...you know the rest. Does your child? 14) Roll and tumble on the ground. This will lead to acrobatics. 15) Play in sand—make sandcastles, sift sand, bury each other in the sand. 16) Play on swings and gliders. Talk about what going high does to the tummy. 17) Have jumping time and hopping time and skipping time. 18) Find a hill (not too big) and roll down it. 19) Take turns being pulled in a wagon. Carry treasures in a wagon. 20) Find a little stream or ditch and let different things float down it. What things float or sink? 21) Practice taking turns drinking water from a hose, crossing tricky bars, going down slides, putting pieces to a puzzle together. 22) Get large boxes and have fun pretending you’re in a spaceship, a car, a jail, a boat, etc. 23) In winter, make snowmen, angels in the snow, catch snowflakes on your tongue but never stick your tongue on frozen metal. 24) In Spring, take a close look at blossoms from a tree. 25) In summer, enjoy fresh produce from a garden you work together on. 26) In Fall, study leaves and critters that are preparing for winter.

In conclusion, Just play for the joy of it all. Oh, and check out www.intermountainlive.org for some humorous reminders about our lifestyles.

Final Questions for “It’s all About You !”

SPENDING TIME:
1) To what organizations have you belonged? List those important to you.
2) What community projects have you worked on? What volunteer work have you ever done?
3) Did you ever make a float for a parade? Were you ever in a parade?
4) To what political party have you belonged? Why? Have you been actively involved in politics? (campaigning, candidate, supporter, etc.)
5) Tell about your health. Have you ever been hospitalized? Why? Did you ever have to use crutches or a wheelchair? What illnesses have you had? Do you wear glasses or a hearing aid? When did you begin to wear them? Do you have any ailments now? Explain.
6) What was your first full-time job? How much did you earn? What were your responsibilities?
7) What other employment have you had? Whom did you work for and for how long? What were your responsibilities? What work have you liked best? Are you retired? When? Was it a big adjustment?
8) Have you had any hobbies? What are they? Do you have any collections (stamps, coins, rocks, embroidery, etc.)?
9) Have you traveled? How many states have you been in? Countries? Have you been on a ship, plane, train, bus? Explain. What was the biggest rip taken as an adult? When, where, and with whom?
10) Have you ever met anyone famous? Tell about it.
11) What moments do you remember most? Tell about one of your sad/happy times. Tell about your most embarrassing moments. What was one of your proudest times? When were you the most frightened? What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you?
12) Have you ever seen or been in a disaster? What kind? When? Where? Have you ever been in a flood? Fire? Hurricane? Car accident?
13) Have you ever served in the military or been involved in wartime service? What kind? When and where?
14) What do you do with your time now? What do you want to accomplish before your life is over?
15) Have you lived through historical events? Tell about some of them-first man on the moon, Kennedy assassination, Pearl Harbor, The Cold War, WWII, Berlin Wall built and torn down, the Depressions, major inventions developed, etc.

CHILDREN:
1) What are your children’s names? When and where were they born? Tell about it and how you felt when you found out. How did you choose their names? Are any of the names “family names” passed from one generation to the next?
2) What was each child like as a baby? Cute? Cranky? Did he/she ever get spanked? 3) What chores did she/he have to do? Did you give him/her an allowance? Did he/she behave in school? What grades? What did he/she like to do best? Did he/she keep a clean room? Did he/she do something special to surprise you?
3)What are some of your favorite memories of your family life when your children were growing up?
4) In what ways did you raise your children as you had been raised? In what ways did you raise them differently?
5) What has been most difficult or trying for you as a parent? What was the least difficult?
6) How did you feel when all your children left home?
7) Do you worry about your children?
8) Do you have any grandchildren? How many? How did you feel when you found out you were going to be a grandparent for the first time? How did you find out? How many great-grandchildren do you have? What do you like best about being a grandparent?

FEELINGS:
1) Do you believe in God? Why?
2) To what religion do you belong? Do you go to church regularly? What is it like in your church? What do they teach you? Are you a teacher?
3) Were you baptized? How, when where? Tell about it.
4) Have you ever gone on a mission? Where? Tell about it.
5) Have you ever had any spiritual experiences? Tell about them.
6) Do you believe in life after death? Are you afraid to die?
7) Write your testimony of your religious beliefs.
8) What are some of your favorite scriptures and quotes?
9) What are some of your favorite books?
10) As you look back, do you have any favorite years? What made them so special? Is there a time you would like to live over?
11) What do you value most in a friend? Who are some of your dearest friends? Tell about them.
12) What issues or causes have you felt strongly about?
13) In times of trouble, who or what has helped you pull through?
14) What major happenings in the world have affected your life most?
15) How do you feel about the future?
16) What advice can you give?
17) What is your creed for living a good life?

President Spencer W. Kimball said: “I urge all of the people of this church to give serious attention to their family histories, to encourage their parents and grandparents to write their journals, and let no family go into eternity without having left their memoirs for their children, their grandchildren, and their posterity. This is a duty and a responsibility.” May 1978 Ensign, pg. 4

Even More of More of “It’s All About You!”

TRADITIONS-HOLIDAYS:
1) Tell about your family traditions. Food, music, reading, etc.
2) What were the traditional or favorite recipes served at family gatherings?
3) Did you have family reunions? Tell about them.
4) What did you do on New Year’s Eve?
5) Tell about Valentine’s Day. Did you make valentines? How did you deliver them? Did you have a valentine box at school? Did you ever get flowers or candy?
6) Tell about Easter. Did you dye eggs? How? Did you hide eggs and Easter baskets? Did you go to church?
7) Tell about decoration or Memorial Day. Did you take flowers to the cemetery?
8) Tell about the Fourth of July. Did you have fireworks? Did your family have a picnic?
9) Tell about Halloween. What did you wear for costumes? Did you make your own? Buy one? Did you have a party? Did you play tricks on anyone or visa versa? Were you scared of ghosts, goblins, and witches? Did you go trick-or treating?
10) Tell about Thanksgiving. Did you have a turkey. What else? Who came to dinner? Did you go somewhere besides home to eat?
11) Tell about Christmas. Did you celebrate it? Did Santa visit your house? Did you ever see or talk to him? Did you write him letters? Did you hang a stocking? What did Santa leave in it? What time did you get up in the morning? Did you have a tree? Buy it? Cut it? What were the decorations like? What gifts did you get and give? Tell about your most memorable Christmas. Tell about Christmas Eve. Was it hard to get to sleep? Did you have a nativity scene and talk about Jesus?
12) How did you celebrate your birthdays? Did you ever have a party? Tell about it or them. Which birthday do you remember most?
13) What was the best gift you ever received when you were growing up? What was the best gift you ever gave?
14) Where there any other traditional events celebrated in your home? What family traditions have been most meaningful to you?

DATING/MARRIAGE:
1) How old were you when you started dating? Tell about your first date. Did you date a lot? Did your parents have to approve of your dates? Tell about your first kiss. Did you think you were popular? Were you ever shy? What did you think about yourself? Were you engaged more than once?
2) How did you meet your mate? How old were you? What attracted you to him/her? Tell about your courtship. Where did you go on dates? Describe him/her. Tell about the proposal and engagement ring. How long did you go together before you were engaged? How long were you engaged?
3) When and where was the wedding? What did you wear? What is your strongest memory from your wedding? Who was there (in general)? Tell about your honeymoon.
4) What was your adjustment to marriage? Were there any surprises?
5) Did you know how to cook when you were first married? Were there any cooking disasters?
6) What work did you do to make a living? Did you both work?
7) Tell a favorite story or two about your mate.
8) Have you been married more than once? If so, when, why, and to whom?
9) How are times different then than now? Entertainment, cleaning house, chores, toys, transportation, money/economy, working, cooking, raising a family, shopping.
10) What do we have now that you didn’t have then?
11) What did you have then that we don’t have now?
12) Tell about the home(s) you have lived in. Your first, second, etc. Where have you most enjoyed living and why?
13) Did you and your mate ever disagree about anything? Did you sulk, pout, or argue? How did you solve your problems?

If you can't follow through with these questions and interviews now, please be sure to copy and paste them for your future reference. These questions are great starters!

Even More of “It’s All About You!”

More questions to help complete a personal history. (This is going to be such a treasure! I’m excited for your family.)

GRAMMAR SCHOOL:
1) What was the name of your school, where was it, and what did it look like? How did you get there? Walk, ride? How far was it from your house? Were you ever late?
2) What did you do at recess? What games did you play? Did you ever have a Maypole or a field day? What was the playground like? What was lunchtime like? School or sack lunch? Where did you eat?
3) Did you ever play hookey? Tell about it.
4) What classes or subjects do you remember? Did you have homework? How much? What kind of grades did you get? What were your favorite/worst classes or subjects?
5)What teachers do you remember? Did you have a mean/good teacher? Were you ever teacher’s pet?
6) In what activities did you participate? Were you ever on a school team? If you were a member of a club(s), what was it? Were you ever involved in music or drama? Were you in the school band? Did you go to school dances? Were you involved in sports?
7) What did you like best about school? What did you like least?
8) What honors did you receive? Were you ever a school or class officer? Did you receive awards or prizes for achievements in athletics, scholarship, etc.?
9) What songs or dances were popular?
10) What kind of clothing did you wear? Were there fads? How were they different than clothes worn by young people today?

JR. HIGH SCHOOL:
Repeat the same questions that were given in Grammar School with this one additional question:

1) What did you do on Jr. High Graduation Night? What did you wear? Did you have a date?

HIGH SCHOOL:

Again, all of the questions are the same except for this one:

1) What did you do on High School Graduation Night? What did you wear? Did you have a date?

POST HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION:
1) Did you attend school after high school? Where? How long? What was your major course of study? Did you graduate? What honors or degrees did you earn? Did you belong to a sorority or fraternity?
3) Apart from school, what have been your most important learning experiences?

More of “It’s All About You!”

How’s your determination to get answers to yesterday’s questions going? Still thinking about the need to do so? If you’re answer is “yes,” don’t feel bad, you’re not alone. Here are a few more questions. (I just had a thought that maybe you could add some of these questions to your “conversation jar.” You’re children love to here about your life, too!) Well, here’s the questions.

GROWING UP:
1) When you were a young child, what did you look like? What was your hair color? Did you have freckles? Were you fat or skinny? When you were a teenager, what did you look like?
2)What is the very first thing you remember?
3)Where did you live? What do you remember about your home(s)? Draw a floor plan of your home(s). How big was your yard? How many rooms did your home have? Did you have a barn or other buildings? Was there an attic or creepy room that scared you? Draw a map of your neighborhood and where your friends lived.
4) How big was your room? What did it look like? Did you have to share it? Could you keep it messy if you wanted?
5) How many people lived in your house? Did relatives come to visit? Did they stay long?
6) What appliances did you have in your home (for cooking, washing, heating, etc.)? Did you have electricity or did you use lamps? Did you have an indoor bathroom or an outhouse?
7) What was your favorite thing in the whole house? Did you save anything?
8) Were you ever punished? Why and how were you punished? Where was your favorite place to go when you were sad or angry? Did you ever run away from home or just hide from your parents? Why? Were you ever grounded? Did you ever talk back to your parents or other adults?
9) What was your bedtime? Did you ever have sleepovers? Tell about them.
10) Who pulled your teeth? How was it done? How much did the Tooth Fairy leave for a tooth?
11) Did you live where there was snow? Did you make snowmen? What other things did you do in the snow?
12) Did you have best friends? Name and describe them. Did you have fights and secrets?
13) Were you ever teased? How and who did it? Was there a bully who picked on you?
14) What household chores did you have to do? What kind of work have you done for pay? How much did you earn? What responsibilities did you have?
15) Was your mom a good cook? What were some thing you had to eat? Did you have a special place at the table? What were your favorite foods? What were your least favorite foods?
16) Did you have any pets? Tell about them. What were their names.
17) What did you do for fun? What games did you play? Did you have a favorite toy or toys?
18) Were you ever sick? Tell about it. Were you afraid of doctors or shots? Did you ever go to the hospital? Have you had stitches or broken bones? Did you have your tonsils out? Were you ever quarantined? What medicines did your mother give you? Did you ever have warts?
19) Did you have any favorite books or stories? Did you go to the library?
20) What did you want to be when your grew up? What did your parents want you to do or be?
21) Do you remember how much things cost? What years? (clothes, toys, food, gasoline, movies, stamps, etc.)
22) Did you get an allowance? How did you spend your money? What could you buy for a quarter?
23) How old were you when you learned to drive? How often did you get to take the family car? What kind of car was it? Did you have your own car?
24) Who most influenced your thinking? At what age? Why? Did you have a mentor-someone you admired and followed?
25) As a teenager, how did you get along with your parents? Your brothers and? Did you like being a teenager?
26) When did you move away from home? Where did you go and why?
27) What types of recreation did you enjoy? Did you go swimming, fishing, skating, state fair, amusement parks, camping, traveling? Tell about it.

Tomorrow I will give you questions about “Grammar School,” “Jr. High School,” “High School,” and “Post High School Education.”

It’s All About YOU!

Yesterday I promised you that I would give you some questions to help you get information from your grandparents about their lives. Here’s the first set of questions. (I want to give credit to Lindsay Powell for these questions that I found in a manual entitled 2008 Family History Fair. It had no copyright.) During the next few days you might consider saving these questions for they would help you get your history recorded and even your children’s history, too. Wouldn’t it be lovely to make the “beginnings” of your children’s histories in the form of a little book that has these questions provided? (Just an idea!)

YOU:
1) What is your full name? Were you named after someone? Did you have a nickname? What was it? How did you get it?
2) What is your birth date? Where were you born (city, county, state, country)? Were you born in a hospital or at home? Was there anything unusual about the circumstances of your birth? Do you know how much it cost for your delivery, Dr. and hospital stay? What was your weight and length? Did you have hair?

FAMILY:
1) From what country did your ancestors migrate? When was it? Where did they settle? When and where were they born? What ship did they travel on?
2)What is your father’s name? What is his birth date and place? What do you remember most about him from your childhood? What did he look like (body build, hair and eye color, etc.)? What work did he do? Is he still alive? If not, when , where, and how did he die?
3) What is your mother’s name? What is her birth date and place? What do you remember most about her from your childhood? What did she look like(body build, hair color and length, eye color, etc.)? Did she work outside the home. What did she do at home? Is she still alive? If not, when where, and how did she die?
4) How many brothers and sisters did you have? Give their full names, nicknames, birth and death dates & places in the order they were born. (Include children who died early in life or at birth.) Where did they fit in?
5)How did you spend your time together? Did you ever take vacations with your family? Where did you go? Tell about some vacations that you remember.
6) To which family members did you feel closest to. Why?
7) Was “English” the only language spoken in your home? If not, what other language was spoken and by whom?
8) What part did religion play in your life? Did you attend church regularly? Of what church did you belong?
8) Did your family have enough money? Was it ever a concern to you?
10) What were one or two of the worst times in your family life?
11) What were one or two of the best times in your family life?
12) Are their any family heirlooms that have been passed from one generation to another?

Tomorrow I will provide questions for “Growing Up.” Have an historical day.

Wow…! Grandpa and Grandma, Please Tell Me More!!!

How much do your children know about their grandparents’ younger years? Do you realize that their history offers one of the richest sources of tradition and identity within your family? Children are a captive audience if you can get grandpa to tell about his favorite childhood activities or if you can get grandma to tell about her first “crush.” Schedule time to visit grandparents or to have them come to your home. Have dinner and use your conversation jar to stimulate questions. Perhaps you could even make up some questions that are made specifically with the grandparents’ histories in mind. (Be sure to let the grandparents know in advance that you will be fishing for stories from their background.) Maybe you will want to wait until after dinner to begin the sharing time. Get comfy and cozy with pillows and blankets and start asking questions. Before you know it, you’ll be laughing and hoping that you can remember every detail of the stories you are told. Thus, you might consider recording the stories if your grandparents grant you permission.

Tomorrow & the next few days, I will share some questions you might ask to get a complete history from anyone—but it would be especially nice for you to record grandparents’ answers for your Family History Record.