My Granny was born 1916. She was born into a large family
who lived in a tiny house in the middle of the Ozarks. They were a farm family,
and like so many others, worked hard for what they had. The results of all that
hard work included food for their table, clean clothes to wear, a strong work
ethic, a lot of love for one another, and enough stories to fill a few books.
Oh, the stories Granny could tell; stories about snake
bites, run-away wagons, community gatherings in their one-room school house,
losing all their money when the banks fell 1929, putting a fire out on the roof…when
she was several months pregnant, and on and on she could go.
Those stories are forever ingrained in my mind, as well as
in the minds of my children. And why shouldn’t they be? They’re great stories.
But even more than that, these stories are our history. They tell us who we came
from; the character, integrity, strength and faith of the people responsible
for our existence.
Today’s society is OBSESSED with the newest and latest, the
fastest and fanciest and the best of the best. Even our education system is
kicking history and grammar to the curb in an effort to try to mold an entire
generation of students into scientists and engineers who can come up with the
next best everything. As parents, you need to make sure you don’t allow this to
happen to your children.
Give them their history. Teach your children who and where
they came from. Share your family’s traditions and culture with them and teach
them to embrace it and take ownership of it. Encourage and foster relationships
between your children and their grandparents, aunts and uncles and even great
aunts and uncles and cousins. But that’s
not all…
Everyone loves a good story—especially one in which they can
association with. So gather stories from family members and share them with
your children for the purpose of making names and faces in photographs come to
life.
People are always saying the only direction to go is forward
and into the future. Now while that is a true statement, it is equally
important to remember that without a past there is no future, and without
understanding the past, we cannot truly appreciate the future.
So, parents, I leave you with this: a plant needs both roots
and leaves in order to survive. Your family’s history serves as your child’s
roots, and the state of the plants leaves represent how well a child allows
that history to shape and influence their lives.
Love,
Momma D
Copyright Feb. 2015. No part of this blog may be reproduced without the content of the author