Children answer the question “What is genealogy?” with varying degrees of success. They have a much easier time answering “What is family history?” How would you describe family history and the concepts related to ancestry and ancestral research to children?
Tags: Genealogy
Family History encompasses more than genealogy, it really does. It’s more than finding names. It’s about learning the stories behind the names, it’s about compiling stories, legacies. I think that we need to make “genealogy” more accessible to everyone. There’s no need for pretense. People are intimidated as it is.
Frankly, I don’t think we should dumb down genealogy. My kids were raised with the real word and they love genealogy. Besides, when you talk to a “nonmember”, they have no idea what you are referring to when you talk of family history, unless you are actually writing the history of your family. The word genealogy is not a scary word and I even sang “Genealogy, I am Doing it”, with my primary kids. Didn’t bother them and they were learning it correctly.
I love this one. It is fun to see how these kids know so much more when you simply change the words you use.