My 11 year old daughter has been nagging me to teach her how to start researching our family tree on @familysearch . I was willing, but a little hesitant… I was worried that it would be too complicated for her. This week, my daughter grew impatient with my excuses for putting her lesson off, got up one morning & started checking “Record Hints” on her @familysearch account. She sheepishly came into my room & told me that she thought she found some parents to one of our ancestors. Not only did I chuckle in my mind, but I was extremely skeptical. I have only ever found 2 of my direct ancestors in my 8 years of researching, I was sure this was a mistake. I came into the kitchen to check it out & to my complete & utter shock, she was RIGHT! She had just found a lead to parents of one of our direct ancestors! I felt the tears of pride fill my eyes. She did it & she didn’t let ME & my excuses get in her way!
I decided to tell this story today, to encourage you to NOT underestimate children! Whether it is your own children, your YW, or your Grandchildren, they have been prepared for this work! They can probably run circles around many of us on a computer! Make sure that you don’t make the same mistake as me. Give them the opportunities to try, fail, learn & succeed!
Something that we have been doing in my household all summer, has been to extremely limit screen time, EXCEPT for FamilySearch! They are allowed pretty much unlimited time on there. What an amazing experience it has been to see my kids shift their focus from video games to Family History! They have been indexing, digitizing, reading stories, & now will be researching. The 2 that have been participating are 9 & 11 years old.
Elder David A. Bednar said, “…please help your children and youth to learn about and experience the Spirit of Elijah. But do not overly program this endeavor or provide too much detailed information or training. Invite young people to explore, to experiment, and to learn for themselves.”
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All week we are chatting about getting kids involved in Family History. What are some of your ideas? Have your kids surprised you with their abilities?
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