Connecting Your Children To Their Extended Family and Lineage

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 It makes sense that so many of us would look forward in life. After all, that’s the way we’re going! And that’s especially true when we have children since our line of thinking is directly connected to their trajectory. However, while the future may get the most of your attention, it’s also important to spend some time looking back, to where you came from. This isn’t only good for your own sense of self; it can also help your children to develop their own identities. It’s much easier, after all, to figure out where you’re going if you know where you’ve been. 

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Looking to connect your children to their extended family and lineage? Follow the tips that we outline below. 

Visit Your Past 

A good way to spend an afternoon is to revisit your personal history with your children. It can be thrilling for a child to see where you grew up, the school you went to, their grandparents' first home, and other parts of your story that happened before they were born. This is easier to do if your family history is in the area where you now reside, but if it’s not, then you could always pay a special trip. A trip to Ireland to discover your heritage, anyone?

Make Time For Relatives

It’s not just your child’s ancestors that they should know about. There’s also a lot of value in making sure they spend time with their living relatives, too. As much as you might like to be your child’s world, there are some things that you can’t give them, and that they can only get from their aunties, uncles, and grandparents. Make a point of all getting together; you’ll be giving your child a gift that’ll help them immensely throughout life. We learn a lot from our relatives!

Hand Me Downs

Another way to connect your child to their family is to give them cherished family heirlooms. Their family and roots will never be far from their mind if they’re wearing a watch that used to belong to their great-grandfather, for instance. Do they have a special birthday coming up? Then bring the watch up to scratch by getting a company like Fast-Fix to repair the strap, replace the battery, or anything else it needs to be a functional watch again. Your child won’t just appreciate the gift on their big day — it’ll become an item that holds significance for them for the rest of their lives.

Story Time

Who doesn’t love story time? If your kids love the stories that you read them from their long list of children’s books, then you can be confident that they’ll love to hear stories about their ancestors. Don’t worry if you don’t think that your family history isn’t overly interesting — it will be to your kids. This is just a charming way to spend an evening, so light the candles, grab some snacks, and settle in for a few hours of happy memories with your kids at your feet.