Category: Storytelling

Family Storytelling With Steller

1/3/2018

Like it or not, the children of today are a digital generation; they've known no other world. If we want them to connect with their family history, we must find ways in which to not only make family history relatable to their lives, but to also bring it to media in which they are the most comfortable, namely social media apps, videos, and websites.

Steller is a simple, free mobile application that is wonderful for sharing family stories across social media. The app allows you to construct family stories using a combination of photos, videos, and text, and then allows you to share your story through social media, or to embed the story within websites, as I have done below. The app itself is its OWN social media network; it is free for anyone to join and you can follow other users, view and 'like' their stories, and even comment on them!

To begin using Steller, first you must download the app to your smartphone or tablet.* It is available for free from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Next you need to create an account, which you can do using either an email address or through your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account. If you use an email address, you will see the right-hand image to create your username and password.

*There is no iPad-specific version of the app, but the iPhone version works just fine on iPads.

Email Sign Up Page

The main interface from which you control the app has five icons at the bottom that look like this:

Main Interface Icons

The house icon is your 'home' screen and shows you the stories of other accounts that you follow. The magnifying glass is the search feature, where you can search other peoples' stories by hashtag or just browse the different categories of stories. The lightning bolt shows your notifications, and the person icon is your profile page, where you can manage settings and see all of the Steller stories that you have personally created.

The '+' symbol in the middle is where you create your own Steller stories. When you click on it, first you must choose a layout for your story. There are 11 themes from which to choose. You can click on any theme and see a preview of what the page templates look like. Keep in mind that the content within these sample stories will be replaced by your own photos, video, and text, so you are really just deciding on the design elements like font and background color. (The story embedded above was created using the 'NICO' theme.) You can change a story's theme at any time - even after you start adding photos and text.

Choose a Theme interface

After you choose your theme, you are given the opportunity to upload up to 20 photos and/or videos into your story. I typically chose to just upload ONE photo to get started because the app automatically places your media into various random layouts, which I rarely keep as I work through the story. So, I upload one photo and am brought to a screen with these choices at the bottom:

Story-Creating Icons

These icons are pretty self-explanatory. When you click on the 'Pages' icon, you are able to delete pages by swiping upwards and you can reorder pages and change the theme very easily.

Delete pages by swiping upward.

Reorder pages by dragging pages to new location.

A couple of more tips: Layouts with text can be edited simply by touching on the text box, deleting the sample words, and adding your words. Some text boxes also give you the option to change features such as font size, color, and alignment, although not ALL text boxes give you that option. In the image below, the 'Title' text box gives you these options, but the text box below it only allows you to change alignment.

Text editing options

And even after you have added your photos to a layout, simply by tapping on the photo, you are given options to crop the photo or replace it with another.

Photo cropping and replacement options

Steller has been around since 2014, but it really hasn't taken off in the same manner as Instagram. Making stories with Steller does take more time and thought than simply posting a few photos on other social media networks, but the amount of depth and emotion that you can create within a Steller narrative, in my opinion, far exceeds what you can do with other apps at this point. In the Steller story embedded above, I combined my grandmother's photos with her words that she recorded in a journal. I enhanced the story with documents from her military file. When I show this to my kids, I feel like I'm giving them more than if I were to just show them a photo or document - I'm putting it all into the context of a more human and creative way of understanding - a STORY. The simplicity of the app combined with the relative brevity of the stories and its digital nature means that children will not only love to scroll through these stories, but will be more likely to want to create their own ancestor stories using the app. (I have lots of ideas about how to utilize this app in teaching my children how to create and use timelines in genealogy research!)

I would really, really like to see more family historians using Steller to get the non-genealogists in their families more interested in family history. Let's face it, presentation and aesthetics matter when telling a story, not just to kids, but to everyone nowadays. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

©2018 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Grandparents As Teachers

8/24/2017

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Grandparents As Teachers with FREE Printables from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

Grandparents Day is coming up on Sunday, September 10, so I have been thinking a lot about ways in which to remember, honor, and document our relationships with our grandparents.

When my brother and I were young children, there was a period during which both of our parents were working full time and our grandparents watched us during the day. And I was thinking about that time the other day and realized how much our grandma and grandpa taught us while they were caring for us.

Naturally, my grandparents had a role in teaching us how to be nice to each other and how to use good manners and things of that nature, but they also taught us a lot of practical skills. My grandmother taught me how to sew a button. She would give me an old sock and her tin of random buttons, and I would just keep sewing on buttons until my fingers hurt. My grandfather taught us how to play the card game, Uno. He also taught my brother how to play chess, but I didn't have the patience for it at the time. He was a woodworking hobbyist, and he taught us how to hammer a nail and use a vise to hold things while you were working on them.

These may seem like small little everyday memories, but now that my grandparents are gone, they mean the world to me. I want to document those memories, so my kids have some insights into my relationship with my grandparents. I also want my kids to think about what their grandparents have taught them (and are still teaching them).

I created these simple printables for getting kids to think about how their grandparents have been a teacher to them. Please feel free to use them with your family, playgroup, or church group. This activity is not limited to children - adults can and should also write about or draw what their grandparents taught them. My intents for these worksheets are: 1.) To get families talking about the importance of the grandparent-grandchild relationship and 2.) To provide a concrete, kid-friendly way in which to document some of our everyday memories of our grandparents. (Click on either image to download the two-page PDF.)

What Grandma Taught Me FREE Printable from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

What Grandpa Taught Me FREE Printable from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

If you are a grandparent or grandparent-to-be, here are a few resources I found online that speak to a grandparent's role as a teacher:

Five Important Things Grandparents Can Teach Grandchildren
10 Things Grandchildren Can Learn From Their Grandparents
Grandparents Are Teachers, Too (Infographic)

I also want to draw your attention to a Grandparents Day campaign organized by CaringAcrossGenerations.org, to let your lawmakers know how much we value the aging population AND the caregivers who dedicate their lives to upholding their quality of life. If you go to this website (postcards.care), you can create a postcard. Upload a photo of a loved one, briefly tell their story or say why they matter to you, and the postcard will be sent to your Senators, free of charge.

©2017 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Birds & Bees? Share A Birth Story

8/4/2017

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"Where do babies come from?"

Birds & Bees? Share A Birth Story // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

Who has been there? *Raises hand* If you haven't been there yet, you will be, and it's question that every child caretaker needs to be ready for. (And I mean AT ANY TIME, because they usually ask it at the most random or inopportune time, am I right?)

Now, I'm no child psychology expert, so I'm not going to tell you the proper way to approach this question with each age group - there are plenty of books out there for that. I have a scientist's brain, and I'm very comfortable talking with my kids about the mechanics of how to make and birth a baby and the biology behind it all. But we all know there is SO much more to the story, and it can be difficult, as a parent or grandparent, finding the right words to help kids and teenagers think about EVERYTHING (physical, emotional, psychological) involved in bringing a child into the world. And it's a conversation between parents and children that should take place constantly, at different levels of understanding, starting as young as preschool and continuing into their teens.

A great way to begin the conversation after your child asks that question, is to share a pregnancy/birth story. Children of all ages usually respond well to anything involving themselves and their story, so talking about their birth brings the topic into focus for them and makes the conversation personal. Starting with a story also helps you, as educator, relax and gather your thoughts better than if you just all-of-a-sudden started talking about biology, hormones, relationships, etc.

Because most children are very visual, a great way to share a child's birth story with them is by bringing out their baby book and/or scrapbook to look at. If kept a journal while you were pregnant and during the newborn phase, maybe read to the child from that as well. A lot of parents now have video of their children's births, and those are great to show kids while having these discussions, too.

I like to tell my kids that every pregnancy and every birth, just like every child, is unique and special in its own way. My pregnancies, especially my first, were high-risk, which was very difficult for me and my husband, but we ended up with a lot of neat ultrasound photos, which I included in pregnancy/birth scrapbooks for each of my children. (And showing these books to them now usually turns into a little bit of a STEM lesson about how ultrasound works!)

Be sure to share any memories that pop into YOUR head while you look through these scrapbooks with your children. Here are some questions that your child might ask, or that might just be helpful for keeping the discussion going.

How did you feel when you found out you were going to have a baby? Happy? Surprised? Worried? Nervous? Excited? Why did you feel the way you did?

How did you prepare for the baby? How did you prepare older siblings for the arrival of the baby?

What did being pregnant feel like? What did they do at your doctor/midwife visits?

What do you remember about the birth? Did it hurt? Was it hard? How did you feel when you held the baby for the first time?

If you are an older sibling, you might have birth stories to tell about your child's aunts and uncles. I remember a lot from when my brothers and sister were born, and my experiences during those times are pieces of my family's history. Share those memories with your child as well, especially if there may be a new baby on the way and he/she is apprehensive of what will happen or how things might change.

Explaining to your child about where babies come from is often a conversation feared by parents, but it shouldn't be, and sharing birth stories can make the experience less intimidating for parents and more personal for children.

©2017 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Sibling Perspectives and Family History

7/27/2017

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Sibling Perspectives and Family History // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

This morning I watched a documentary called Shalom Italia on the PBS app. It's the story of three elderly Jewish brothers who travel back to their childhood home in Tuscany to remember their lives and struggles during WWII, and to search for a cave in the woods where their family hid from authorities to avoid deportation and death.

The film makers did a wonderful job of revealing the emotional and social dynamics between the brothers and in exploring the memories each brother retained from this time period in their lives. As a family historian, it was so interesting to hear the differences in each brother's memories and in the emotions they associated with those memories. The eldest brother felt nothing but pain and suffering in his memories and lamented his experiences in having to grow up too soon. When they visited their childhood home, the middle brother remarked that he remembered good times there. The youngest brother remembered hiding in the cave, as a five year old, and not being able to yell or cry about anything, no matter what. Have you experienced this in your family history? Have different members your family, even members of the same generation, recalled experiences or events differently in their written or oral histories?

As a family historian, I think it's important to be aware of how personal histories and memories can be shaped by things like age and birth order. Older children are often given more responsibility in times of distress, and often are thrown into the role of provider and protector. Younger children may remain blissfully ignorant of what's happening around them, and, therefore, they might have these sort of peripheral memories that can be both sweet and poignant. Older children typically remember their elders better than younger siblings, while younger siblings may better remember household events that occurred after their older siblings had moved out to attend college or get married.

This is a discussion we can and should engage our young people in, especially for young people interested in genealogy. I also think that having this discussion with your family members can help each child develop a sense of empathy towards their siblings and a respect for the unique challenges each member of the family experiences within the family dynamic as a whole.

Activity: Sit down with your children and/or grandchildren sometime and ask them to remember a particular event or period in time. It could be a major family event like moving to a new place or a vacation or a reunion, or it could be a time when something unusual or even traumatic happened in your family or community. Ask each child to write down or draw what they remember and how they felt during that time. Urge them to be honest and open with their memories. Then, go around individually and share those memories with each other. Everyone will quickly see how each person has different perspectives of the same events and time periods. Consider discussing these questions with your family members:

How does each person's individual memories of a time or event shape a family's history?

How do the emotions we are feeling at a particular time affect how we remember events? Are you personally more likely to want to write down memories from the good times in your life or from the more challenging times of your life?

Is there such a thing as having 'right' or 'wrong' emotions associated with particular family events?

How can we work together to compose a family history that is loyal and sensitive to each family member's perspective of events, even when those perspectives conflict?

How has this activity changed how you will interpret your ancestors' personal journals and/or oral histories?

Hopefully, these questions will get a good discussion going amongst family members, and help them think more deeply about this very human (and, therefore, complex) aspect to family history. This activity is also beneficial to do with older generations at reunions or extended family gatherings. As we age, we lose some memories, but, in some ways, losing memories can make the strongest ones stand out in our minds, so it becomes interesting to hear what older people remember about not only family events, but also major news events, like the JFK assassination or the moon landing. Interviewing adult siblings together as a group can be quite eye-opening, and can help you understand that particular family's dynamic in a way that no photo or document really ever could.

You can watch Shalom Italia on PBS.org until August 6, 2017.

©2017 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Childhood Christmas Memories Interview

12/12/2016

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Childhood Christmas Memories Interview from GrowingLittleLeaves.com

Family gatherings make the holiday season a great time to talk with elder family members about family heritage and history. We've all seen the lists of recommended questions about birth, deaths, people and places that we should ask our family members before it's too late. But there is so much MORE to family history than just names, dates, and places. What about our memories of people, places, and traditions of the past? They are just as, if not more, important to our families' histories as the stuff we add to a pedigree chart.

I recommend getting the younger family members involved in talking with older family members about their childhood Christmas memories. Below is a list of Christmas-related questions that kids can ask other family members. Not only that, but I recommend that the kids themselves record their answers to these questions, letting their memories also become meaningful records in our family history files.

Childhood Christmas Questions

How did your family decorate their house for Christmas? What did your Christmas tree look like and what did you decorate it with?

At whose house did you celebrate Christmas with your extended family? Who was there? Describe what the house looked like.

Did you attend church with your family on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? If so, which church did you attend? Describe what the service was like.

What games did your family like to play together at Christmas gatherings?

What was your favorite Christmas gift you received as a child?

What gifts did you NOT like getting for Christmas?

Was there a gift you really, really wanted but did not get? If so, what was it?

What was your favorite holiday food served by your family? What was your least favorite holiday food?

Do you remember Christmas shopping with your family? Which stores did you go to? Describe the store decorations, if you remember them.

What kinds of Christmas presents do you remember giving to your parents and/or siblings?

What kinds of smells do you remember from Christmastime experiences?

What other special holiday traditions do you remember from your childhood? Baking days? Crafts? Special songs or prayers? Watching holiday movies or plays or reading holiday stories?

I'm sure there are more holiday-related questions you can think of that may be more specific to your family, but this list is a good start to get people thinking and talking about childhood Christmases of the past. When children hear their elders talk about their own childhoods, a special connection between the generations is formed, because the kids then realize that these grown-ups were once kids who had a lot of the same experiences that they are having.

©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Family Stories Through Times of Transition

6/16/2016

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Family Stories Through Times of Transition // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

"Families are the compass that guide us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter." -Brad Henry, former Governor of Oklahoma.

One of the hardest aspects of raising children is guiding them through periods of major transition in their lives. My daughter will be starting Kindergarten in about six weeks, and I have been thinking of ways to use stories from our family's history to instill within her a sense of courage and confidence as she enters this new chapter of her life.

Even as adults, going through periods of change in our lives - whether it be moving to a new place, getting a new job, or transitioning from one relationship to another - is tough! Children and adolescents do not necessarily have a frame of reference in which to view major life changes, so it can be even more difficult for them. We, as parents, can try to offer our advice and recount past experiences when it comes to new people and places, but, as all of my fellow parents know, it's not uncommon for kids to simply tune us out. They may, however, be more willing to listen to stories about their ancestors going through life challenges and transitions than about when mom and dad when through some of the same experiences.

Stories of immigration to a new country or migration to a new part of the country can instill within children a sense of adventure and a blatant disregard for fear of the unknown - a trait that helps us to take risks and is, at times, a wonderful thing to possess. These kinds of stories are also great for teaching the benefits of shedding possessions, starting fresh, and meeting new people.

Stories of learning new skills and perhaps starting a new business can promote a confidence in their family's work ethic and teach kids the long-term benefits of learning new things.

Stories of young people leaving home to start an apprenticeship or to otherwise work or learn in another place can teach kids about having courage in their abilities and developing self-reliance.

Stories of difficult and/or prolonged business or educational pursuits can teach children about perseverance and not giving up when things don't always go they way they should.

And while these sorts of stories very often contain an amount of hardship within, try to not focus on the hardship itself, but instead on the overcoming of the hardship and the character traits used by their ancestors to do so. Whenever the story permits, focus on how people surrounding your ancestor - other family members, friends, neighbors, clergy - may have helped him/her through their challenges, and assure your children that you will always be there to help, if needed.

Make your storytelling interactive and encourage comments and questions from the children. When possible, show them photos of the ancestors you are talking about, as well as evidence of their accomplishments, such as a photo of a business in which they worked, a diploma, a newspaper article about them, or a military medal. Be sure to tell your children that they are genetically made of the same building blocks as their ancestors, and that they have the traits and abilities within them to weather life's trials in the same manner as their family members did long ago.

The stories of the past have the power to guide and encourage the generation of the future.

©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Helping Kids Find Identity Through Their Ancestors

12/28/2015

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Helping Kids Find Identity Through Their Ancestors // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

How can our ancestors' stories be used to better the next generation? I think about this question a lot, and, in order to answer it, you need to know what this generation of kids today struggle with. I will refer to this generation (young children - teens) as Post-Millennials.

Kids today struggle with some of the same issues that young people have had to deal with for generations. Navigating through relationships with parents, siblings, teachers, and peers is still a major part of growing up. Getting through school and trying to choose out a career path are also concerns that have been around for a few generations. So, what is new about THIS generation's struggle? Ridiculously busy schedules? Yes. Busier parents? Yes. More peer pressure and bullying? Yes, although that too has been around for awhile. Fear of not succeeding? Bingo - and that's a big one. But deep down, these kids, some of whom have not even left diapers yet, are struggling and will struggle with identity.

How do we discover our own identity? - our likes and dislikes, the things that ignite our curiosities and passions, the places that fascinate us, the people with whom we connect? We explore, we try, we ask questions, we get lost, we fall, we make mistakes, we cry, we start over, and when we get through the struggles on our own, another piece of our identity puzzle falls into place. Unfortunately, the prevalence of helicopter parenting has eliminated some of the ways in which we find our identities as children and adolescents. Kids lives are also more scheduled than they've ever been, leaving less time for leisure and unscripted, free exploration.

Post-Millennial kids are also the most labeled of any generation thus far. ADD/ADHD. Gluten-free. Speech-delayed. High-Ability. Gifted. Spirited. The list goes on and on. These labels are in addition to the "normal" labels adults give kids throughout childhood - those based on birth order (oldest, youngest) and ability (the musician, the athlete). Labels are not bad in and of themselves; in fact, many of today's labels and diagnoses make it possible for kids to get proper developmental therapies or keep them away from foods that could be dangerous to their health. But kids pick up on labels very quickly, and if they are learning that labels = who I am, then they will struggle with their identity later in life.

Our true, deeper identities have nothing to do with degrees, careers, appearance, medical diagnoses, physical abilities, hobbies, who we are related to, or where we live. It is more about figuring out how we see ourselves, what qualities and character traits we value and try to emulate, and how we choose to interact with what life hands us.

Can we, the genealogists, help this youngest generation find out just who they are AND become confident in who they are? Yes. We are the caretakers of dozens and dozens of unique family identities, each of which can help our young people discover themselves.

A few years ago, I attended a seminar by genealogist Thomas W. Jones. During his discussion, he spoke something along the lines of, "Your ancestor was unique in the history of the world. You are unique in the history of the world." He was speaking more in terms of time and place and documented histories, but those are powerful words on a whole other level as well.

Though their DNA runs through our cells, our ancestors do not define our identity, but from their stories we can find inspiration, aspire to the good qualities they exhibited, and learn from their mistakes, struggles, and how they bounced back from what life threw at them. We should use family stories to teach our children and grandchildren about the character traits listed below, but not by lecturing them with, "This is how you should act." No, we should be saying, "This is who you can be. You have the power within you to add great and unique stories to our family history."

Leadership
Perseverance
Patience
Cooperation
Value of Education
Strong Work Ethic
Responsibility
Compassion
Integrity
Sacrifice

So, make it a point to tell family stories to the youngest members in your family. Even if they don't seem interested, they are listening. Search out documents or stories that demonstrate positive character traits in their ancestors, and give the kids a copy of it as a reminder. We, as genealogists, know how inspirational our ancestors' lives can be. Please don't wait until children are grown to share those stories. Children will benefit from them now and for the rest of their lives.

I will be thinking more about this subject in the new year, and hope to come up with an activity or two to help you put all of this into practice!

©2015 Emily Kowalski Schroeder