“Where did I come from?” Think fast. Don’t panic. In fact, you don’t even have to dodge the question. When your child asks you this, take it as an opportunity to talk with him about his genealogy, his ancestry and his heritage. Whew, that was a close one. Learning about ancestors doesn’t have to be boring. It can be fascinating for your child. You just need to make it fun. Here’s how.
What You Need:
- Family photos
- Large piece of cardstock or heavy construction paper
- Markers
- Glue stick or double-sided tape
- Hole punch
- String
What You Do:
- First, go through the photo albums and choose pictures of your parents, your spouse’s parents, as well as aunts, uncles and cousins on both sides. Then, pick out some of the immediate family and throw in a snapshot of the family pet for fun.
- Once you have your small stack of pictures, you’ll need a large piece of cardstock or heavy construction paper. Then gather up some markers, a glue stick or double-sided tape, a single hole-puncher, and some string. Ask her to draw a tree in the middle of the page, wide enough to fit a picture of herself. Then, working from her photo, help her draw two ‘branches’ coming out of the top of her photo (for you and your spouse) and a few branches at the sides of her picture for any siblings or pets. Glue down the photos of the extended family at the edge of the branches.
- When you’ve completed the photo tree, it’s time to talk about the countries the family members came from. If your child is half Irish, a quarter Spanish and a quarter Nepalese, talk about what makes each country famous. Encourage your child to draw representative pictures around the tree. A shamrock here, some bulls running there, a Buddha in the corner. Then punch two holes, one in each top corner of the paper, and tie the string through it. You’ve got an instant hanging family tree. Give this classic activity a multimedia twist. Go to the local library or on-line to find some traditional music from your family's country of origin, be it mariachi, polka or opera. If your child has a mix of music in their heritage, they can have fun playing DJ.
- Nothing says culture like food. You can extend the fun into the kitchen by cooking up some delicious recipes from the countries represented in the family tree. Perhaps, you could even try your hand at the hot new trend in the culinary arts — ethnic fusion. Corned beef pad thai, anyone?
Your child will have learned something important about who he is and where he comes from, and you’ve managed to avoid the birds and bees talk — at least temporarily. Job well done.
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