Preserving Family Memories

As an only child, making family memories and documenting them for my children has been a lifelong project. Growing up my family was scattered across the country and family gatherings were few and far between. No one took the time to document our family history to pass down to the next generation. I do not recall many stories of my grandparents or great-grandparents. In my early twenties I took a great interest in finding out more about my family lineage.

There are several methods of capturing family memories, here are just a few:

• Start with today. If you're family hasn't left a written legacy for your family history, start by recording your life today. Scrap booking can be a fun way to capture special moments in the lives of your children and immediate family. If you are a new parent, you may consider keeping a Baby's Journal to track milestones in your child's life.
• Photos and videos. Take plenty of photos of everyday activities, don't just record special occasions. Children love to hear and see their story. Make a special movie night once a month to review family videos of vacations, school programs or baking cookies together.
• Trace your genealogy. There are many good on-line resources to track your family lineage. If your family history has not been traced and passed down to you, don't lose heart, it is still possible to find your family's story.
• Rely on older family members. A way to build new family memories is to enlist older members to recount stories of their youth and memories they had. If your family is like mine, there are probably stories of immigrating to America. Record them and transcribe them for your historical records.
• Write a family book. There are many self publishing sources available. Take some of your family photos and stories and compile them to tell your family's story. This makes a wonderful family gift especially for families that live far apart.
• Make a family calendar. This is an inexpensive and fun activity. Collect everyone's birthdays, anniversaries and milestones. Choose 12 family photos, one for each month. Family calendars can become an annual treasure for tracking the family's growth and record memories for years to come.

All that is needed to get started is a keen interesting in preserving your family history. It takes a conscience effort to record family memories. Create a system to keep your records consolidated in one place so they are easily accessed. As you have time, document major milestones in a record that can be preserved for generations to come.