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How Genealogy Helps Children Cope With Death

10/28/2016

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How Genealogy Helps Children Cope With Death - GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Last week, my husband and his extended family experienced the passing of the family's matriarch, my children's great-grandmother. It was not their first experience with the loss of a loved one, but they still asked many of the normal questions about why people die, what death means, and what happens to our bodies vs. our spirits - normal things you would expect a child to ask. 

However, I have been impressed at my kids' maturity in talking openly about death and to seemingly accept it as a part of life, even more than some adults seem to. Could this be because we talk about death (more than the average family) when I teach them about our ancestors and our family's history? Could it be because we take regular visits to cemeteries, and talk about how death is simply a part of life?

Although sorrow will always be a part of coping with the deaths of loved ones, children are not born with an inherent fear of death - it is something they learn from the people around them. Openly and regularly talking about the cycle of life and death makes the subject less taboo and less intimidating to children.

I love creating and using timelines with my children to teach family history, because they help them visualize the complete span of a person's life and the life events included within that span. Death is one of those events - an event that none of us completely understand from a spiritual perspective. But 
seeing death as a life event common to every person who has come before us is a powerful thing to be able to visualize, especially for a child. Understanding the universality of death and mourning doesn't necessarily make us less sad or angry when someone we love dies, but I do think it gives us a greater sense of acceptance and closure, especially if we believe in some version of a spiritual afterlife.

How Genealogy Helps Children Cope With Death - GrowingLittleLeaves.com
And as genealogists, we deal heavily in memories, especially memories of loved ones who are no longer with us in the flesh. I'm always sharing memories of my grandparents with my children, and I've now encouraged them to discuss memories of their deceased great-grandparents, as a way to keep them "alive" within us. 
​

Our family does not share Mexican ancestry, but one of my favorite holidays that has elements which I think every family should embrace is Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Drawing on both indigenous and Catholic traditions, Dia de lost Meurtos festivities remember, celebrate, and welcome back the spirits of dead loved ones. Family members build altars (ofrendas) to honor their ancestors and visit cemeteries to clean and decorate grave sites. Though individual traditions can vary from place to place, most Día de los Muertos festivities generally take on a happy, celebratory tone, instead of a mournful one.  

I am curious as to what other people think. Do you think that regularly discussing our ancestors with our children can help them process the mystery of death any better than children who don't know anything about their family history? 

As always, thanks for reading! If you are interested in learning more about Día de los Muertos, check out these links below!

Kid-Friendly Resources About Día de los Muertos:
Teacher Page - MexicanSugarSkull.com
​
Day of the Dead - Smithsonian Latino Center
Día de los Muertos - National Geographic Society 
Day of the Dead - National Geographic Kids
Day of the Dead History, Activities, and Resources - ArtIsFun.com

©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Identifying Female Ancestors: Name Change Flashcards & Matching Game

10/21/2016

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Identifying Female Ancestors: Name Change Flashcards & Matching Game from GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Let's face it - keeping female name changes straight in our family trees can be confusing for even the most experienced genealogists. Imagine our children's confusion, then, when we introduce them to the women in their family tree, and they are confronted with the fact that one female ancestor had two or more surnames in her lifetime. 

I've created a printable for making female ancestor flashcards that can help a child associate one woman with her different surnames. The printables have a place for a photo, and also spaces in which to write both a woman's birth name and her married name. (And there is even a template if a woman was married more than once.)

There are a couple of ways in which you can use these templates:

Idea #1: Cut along the solid black perimeter lines only. Place a photo of a female ancestor or living female relative in the square below. Then, write her full birth and married names on the appropriate lines. Fold along the dotted lines to make a handy, foldable flashcard.

Idea #2: Cut out along ALL lines, completely separating each square and rectangle from the others. Using the pieces from at least several different women, ask the child to match each photo to the correct names. You can place magnets on the backs of the pieces to make a fun fridge game!

These would be great activities for kids to do at a family reunion!

Identifying Female Ancestors: Name Change Flashcards & Matching Game from GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Name Change Flashcard: One Marriage
Identifying Female Ancestors: Name Change Flashcards & Matching Game from GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Name Change Flashcard: Two Marriages
(Click on either image above to be directed to a downloadable PDF that includes both templates. For added durability, I recommend printing on cardstock.)

And, hey, if you have a woman in your family tree who married more than twice, let me know and I will make a foldable flash card template appropriate for her!

©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder. All rights reserved. Worksheets and printables for personal use only and may not be reproduced or redistributed without written consent of owner.
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Family Photo Worksheets

10/17/2016

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Identifying and documenting family photos is an important aspect of preserving family history. When I was a kid, I remember looking through photos that my mom had just had developed (at the grocery store!) and I even remember helping her put them into photo albums. Unfortunately, in the age of digital photography, most kids these days do not spend much, if any, time holding and looking at physical prints of photographs, which is a shame because photos are one of the most engaging primary sources that family historians use to document family history.

I created a couple of simple notebooking worksheets that will help elementary-aged kids examine. family photos, and even give them a hand in documenting them. The worksheets are identical, except one is for horizontally-oriented photos and the other is for vertically-oriented ones. Click on each image to be directed to a downloadable PDF. 
Family Photo Documentation FREE Worksheet from GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Document a Family Photo Worksheet
Family Photo Documentation FREE Worksheet from GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Document a Family Photo Worksheet
And, just for fun, I also created a 'Hashtag a Family Photo' worksheet. For young people who use social media apps like Twitter and Instagram, communicating in hashtags is almost like its own language. For those not familiar with them, hashtags are labels put on photos or tweets (using the # symbol) that help classify them and help other people on that network find them.

This worksheet would be a lot of fun at family reunions. Give everyone a copy with the same family photo on it and ask each person to create hashtags. Then, read them aloud to everyone. Social media hashtags can get pretty comical at times, and I think the same thing would happen at a reunion. And this is a great way to engage young people at reunions in a 'language' they can understand and relate to.
Hashtag a Family Photo FREE Worksheet from GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Hashtag a Family Photo Worksheet
You can also download these and other free worksheets from the Growing Little Leaves Printables page.

©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder
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See You At RootsTech 2017!

10/12/2016

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Emily Kowalski Schroeder of GrowingLittleLeaves.com will be presenting at RootsTech 2017.
RootsTech 2017 is right around the corner, and I'm proud to announce that I will be participating in a panel session entitled, 'Kid Genealogists: Inspiring the Next Generation.' My co-presenters will be Nicole Dyer of Family Locket and Melissa Finlay of The Finlay Family. We are passionate about engaging children in family history, and we can't wait to share some of our ideas with everyone!

Our session is on Saturday, February 11 at 3pm. Click HERE to see the full schedule and to register. We hope to see you there!
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Book Review: The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup

10/4/2016

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Over the past 30 years or so, author and illustrator Patricia Polacco has created some amazing and poignant works of children's literature, many of them surrounding historical events and some of them based on her own family history. The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup are two of my favorites, and are based on the lives of her Russian Jewish ancestors.
Book Review: The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup by Patricia Polacco - GrowingLittleLeaves.com
In The Keeping Quilt, we meet a young girl, Anna, whose family has just immigrated to the U.S. from Russia. We hear about the family's struggles in adapting to new life in a big city and learning a new language, but we are also witness to the important roles of community and family in immigrant life. The book follows the journey of a handmade quilt passed along through several generations and how it served family members as a tablecloth, wedding huppah, baby blanket, and even a play tent. This story is a charming example of how an heirloom can come to represent a family's history, people, and experiences. The Keeping Quilt is appropriate for all ages. 

The Blessing Cup is a prequel to The Keeping Quilt. It tells the story of Anna's family before they came to America - about what life was like in Russia. This story is more intense than The Keeping Quilt from an emotional standpoint, because it does allude to the terror felt by the family and village people during the Russian pogroms, and about the hardships the family goes through on their journey out of Russia and eventually to America. However, it also demonstrates the kindness, generosity, and sacrifice of strangers. And through all of their ordeals, there is another heirloom that comes to represent the family's journey - a cup from a tea set given to Anna's parents as a wedding gift.

I would recommend The Blessing Cup for ages 7 and up. As mentioned above, the historical events within the story are more complex, and some younger children may not emotionally process it or understand it as well as older children. It is, however, a good story to help you initiate discussion with your children about immigration push-and-pull factors throughout history, particularly with respect to people of the Jewish faith.

I've written before about how important it is to introduce our children to family heirlooms at an early age. Heirlooms are concrete, tangible items that link us to the people in our family who came before us. After reading these books to your children or grandchildren, share some of your family's most cherished heirlooms with them, and better yet, share the stories and memories that accompany those heirlooms. 

*This post does NOT contain affiliate links*


©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder
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    Emily Kowalski Schroeder

    Founder and Author of Growing Little Leaves

    Emily Kowalski Schroeder / Founder and Author of GrowingLittleLeaves.com
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    RootsTech 2019 // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
    RootsTech 2019 // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

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