Most Treasured Heirlooms

Most Treasured Heirlooms

       These quotes express some important ideas about family heritage.

"A family with an old person has a treasure of gold." Author Unknown

"If you don't recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them, too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are." 

Madeleine L'Engle

"How will our children know who they are if they don't know where they came from?"

John Steinbeck

"Our most treasured family heirloom are our sweet family memories."  Author Unknown

"Do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live.  Teach them to you children and your children's children."

Deuteronomy 4:9

           Maybe we parents of today worry too much about entertaining our children.  We fear that they will be bored if we talk about the past or tell our stories. We fear we will get the dreaded "eye-rolling " response. So...they are bored. Boredom has served as a fertile ground for many wonderful, creative, intelligent thoughts. Why do adults always say that children will get in trouble if they are bored?  In my opinion, it is mostly a lack of guidance and supervision that gets our children in trouble, not boredom.

          A child will see Brave ten times, but does not know any of his or her family's stories.  Our children have not learned to listen to the adults in their families (or their teachers at school), but they can watch a movie or play a video game for hours. Some of these are the same children who bear the label of ADHD.

         A family must find time for the sharing of stories or the stories will be lost.  Make meal time, bedtime and time in the car a time for family stories, if there are no other times in the day.   Family stories are unifying and identity-building, but they can also be used to teach lessons about what works and what doesn't work in life.  

         Will the families of the future just look like a bunch of different aged roommates living in the same house or will it look like a "group home"? Will everyone be watching their own shows and eating their own food at their own times in front of  multiple TV's?  Will the parents' role in the family be mostly just shuttling children and earning the "cash"? Of course, this is a complex question and the answer depends on several things, but there must be that solidifying identity that makes each family special and gives us a framework of belonging. There is a binding, calming, loving force found in our family stories, which truly are our most treasured heirlooms.