The Importance of Family Histories

For the last few years it has dawned on me that the present generation of our family have no roots. Or at least, they don't think of it as being important enough to own. I decided to dig into my family history to see if my children would come to appreciate their grandparents. Sure they loved their Oma and Opa, but did they really know them.

All I knew of both of them was that they were POWs in WWII. I never really understood the pain and hardships they endured. So, of course, there is where I started--with stories of their childhood. I soon learned that there was much too much information to take in at one sitting and I started writing notes and published a few articles online and began a blog for Mom's story. Plus we actually published a cook book for her, Come and Dine, which helped create a family unison as we all worked on it together. Dad's life blog might be my next project.

In any case, all this to say that seeing photographs of my parents in a country demolished by bombs and of bomb shelters caused my kids to ask questions. Really good deep questions. And yes, a bond was formed. It's important, I believe, to see where we came from, so to speak. Plus you will see your parents in a much different light. We did.