Family History with Young Kids… While Sheltering In Place

This blog post was contributed by Marisa Louie Lee.

I was making some exciting strides in my genealogy research this year until mid-March, when my daughter’s preschool closed and landed her at home with her younger sister and me. We’ve since filled our days with class Zoom meetings, sidewalk chalk, watching lettuce grow in the backyard, crafting with toilet paper tubes, and lots of yoga on YouTube… and lately, a few family history projects. While visiting research rooms or meeting up with other researchers is in the distant future, I can still work on something just as important as piecing together the past: fostering a love for family history and their cultural heritage in my kids.

For children, especially those under the age of 5, identity is tied to family. Understanding family traditions and being able to share family narratives strengthens one’s pride in family, building confidence and self-esteem. With this foundation, children can better understand differences among their peers and build relationships with others. Here are some ways you can introduce family history to young children while sheltering in place.

Making Chinese turnip cake at home

Cooking Family Recipes: The food of Shelter in Place is definitely comfort food – and what’s more comforting than what your family has made for generations? Share the stories that go along with the recipes. Was there a special plate that your grandmother used to serve the cake? Was this casserole a special food for holidays or birthdays? If you don’t have a family recipe for something you enjoyed as a child, find one online and refine it until it feels and tastes right. We made my mother-in-law’s favorite Chinese turnip cake (lo bak go) for the first time last month. An aunt has also been perfecting her Hong Kong-style egg custard tart (daan tat) recipe, and our kids have happily eaten all of the trial tarts left on our doorstep.

Thumbs up for homemade custard tarts!

Family Photo Sharing on Zoom: On Mother’s Day, our extended family gathered on Zoom. We devoted part of our meeting to sharing and talking about family pictures. My daughter loves seeing photos of adults as children, so she was enthralled by a photo from her great-great-grandmother’s birthday party in the 1960s. Best of all, the Zoom meeting was recorded so we are able to go back and listen to everyone’s reminiscences. This would be an excellent activity for a family member who’d like to offer some virtual babysitting to busy parents.  

Cemetery Visits: Instead of taking a walk at a local park, why not visit a local cemetery? This would have to be carefully planned and obviously may not be appropriate for every child. Our children are very comfortable at cemeteries because we visit twice yearly for Chinese grave cleaning days in the spring and fall. Visit the grave of an ancestor and share a story, or find a grave and discover ways to find out more about that individual and the time period in which they lived. My daughter talks about time and history comparatively to people and things she is familiar with: was this person alive when her parents or grandparents were born? Which famous Disney movies – like Snow White (1937) or Cinderella (1950) – were around then? Were there cars or did people ride horses?

Visiting Hoy Sun Cemetery in Colma

Honoring family on Memorial Day

COVID-19 Time Capsule: Document the history happening now. What is it like sheltering in place with your family? How are you celebrating holidays and special occasions? What are your favorite books, movies, and pastimes right now? This COVID-19 time capsule by LONG Creations is designed for young children to complete and color with some adult assistance.

 

Some books from our family library

Picture Books on Family History: Read books on family history, particularly any that relate to your child’s culture and ancestors. My daughter will eventually learn more fully about the Chinese Exclusion Act and Chinese communities in the Sacramento Delta, but for now we can talk about immigrant journeys and the meanings of our names. Some recent fantastic picture books with a thread about family history and heritage include Islandborn by Junot Díaz and Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal. You can also find books specifically about family trees and genealogical research, such as My Family Tree and Me by Dušan Petričić. If you don’t mind using a tablet or electronic device to read with your child, these may be available as e-books from your local public library. I’ve developed a reading list in my San Francisco Public Library account with these and other titles.

Many thanks to friends and colleagues in genealogy and parenthood Linda Harms Okazaki, Asia Yee Mountz, and Petra Fraties for their input and contributions to this blog post. This article published on the Your DNA Guide blog further discusses family narratives and building resilience in children.

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Think kids don’t like Family History? Think again.

Teachers announce special visitors to Ventana School. 

by Shannon Reese

You would think we were going for a big presentation to the board-- instead, we were on our way for our first talk with an even tougher crowd: 1st and 2nd graders.  If there’s one thing kids are, it’s that they’re honest, so we knew we had to be on our game to hold their attention.  With that in mind, Linda Okazaki and I made our trek over to Los Altos to teach the children about family history and genealogy. 

Why we came 
In late June, a first grade teacher, Corinne Fischer, at the Ventana School in Los Altos contacted CGS President, Ellen Fernandez-Sacco about a possible field trip. Ventana is a small, private school housed at an Episcopalian church. The students come from mostly affluent families, yet there is some ethnic diversity. The educational philosophy of Ventana is “Reggio-inspired”, and the curriculum is largely driven by the students. We knew these kids were thinkers and were prepared for the onslaught of questions that were to come.

Excited, we agreed to participate in this experimental outreach opportunity (2 different days with similar presentations for 2 different classes) on behalf of CGS. Linda created a curriculum (her background is child development and education) to introduce family history to children ranging in age from 4-8 years old.  Although my background is in sales and marketing, I agreed to participate because I have a kindergartener and enjoy learning how to inspire these little learners!

Linda (Lower right) consults with students at Ventana School. 

Back to the kids  
One classroom, split between children in grades 1 and 2, consisted of two teachers, Corinne Fischer & Courtney Priddy, and 19 children that ranged in age from 6-8 years old. The other classroom was 1st grade only with two teachers, Elisa Merrifield & Julie Kelsey, and a total of 20 children. Most, if not all of the children came from traditional families. Prior to our visit, the teachers in both classrooms had previously discussed families, interviewing, and story telling.  The classroom that was split between first and second graders had even discussed heredity. 

Students work on their pedigree charts. 

So what happened?  
The children sat on a carpet ready for a performance. We used a giant (well, at least to the children) flannel board to display our terminology: Family History, Genealogy, Parents, Grandparents, and Great Grandparents.  We broke-down the words “Family History” into “Family”, then “History” and finally “Story”---we emphasized that stories were the end result of the research and were really what everyone could get excited about and remember about their loved ones.

Family stories by students at Ventana School. 

After a discussion about terminology, the children returned to their tables and completed “pedigree charts”.  Given the wide range of skills within each classroom, children could choose between a traditional four-generation pedigree chart and one in which they could draw their family members. 

Naomi's three generation family tree. 

All hands were on deck as the adults (teachers, plus Linda and myself) worked simultaneously with the children to provide help throughout the exercise. The children also wrote their full names on paper leaves that we left for the teachers to use for a “community tree”, a concept that was directly related to a previous classroom discussion of the difference between families and communities.

Afterwards, we told the children two different stories about our own families using laminated photos of ourselves, parents, grandparents, etc. (to create a visual family tree), along with our trusty friend, the children’s classroom globe. These stories were limited to a few generations and included concepts of immigration, relocation, intergenerational families, and geography.  I told a story about my own Nordic ancestry and asked “Snakker du Norsk, anyone?” Amazingly, one little girl responded in fluent Norwegian.

The children began to respond
All children love to talk about themselves and their own families, so we kept this in mind as we continued the lesson. Dozens of little hands clamored for the sky as each student had a seemingly endless stream of questions for us. We heard wonderful little tales from other students who told of their Chinese, Russian, Korean, Indian, French, Irish and English ancestry.

We told the children to think about what they might ask their own grandparents. One little girl said she would ask her great-grandmother, “Did you lose your front teeth, too?” She was so charming and endearing that we couldn’t help but assure her that, “yes, your great-grandmother also lost her front teeth”.  After receiving this affirmation, all seemed right in the world for her.

Reviewing trees with their teacher. 

What did we learn?  
Family History can be introduced to different age groups, as long as the curriculum is presented in a developmentally appropriate manner. The experience at Ventana was overwhelmingly positive. The children were engaged, as were the teachers.  It was a pleasure representing the California Genealogical Society at this event! 

Need a speaker for an event (children or adults)?  Contact Shannon Reese. 

All photos by Shannon Reese

Copyright © 2014 by California Genealogical Society