Turn Over a New Leaf with a Family Tree

Whether you’re 100 percent one ethnicity, a mix of a bunch or have absolutely no idea what your history is, it seems that everyone loves trying to piece together a family tree. Making a family tree is another way to connect to your cultural identity and learn about your ancestors, right in your own home to share with your children.

A family tree is a visual representation of your genealogy, starting with you and branching off to your siblings, parents, grandparents and so on. According to FamilyTree.com, an ancestry research website, genealogy is “the study of family ancestors with documentation of birth, marriage and death dates through parents, grandparents, great grandparents, as far back as possible.”

Preserving history in a family tree is an important practice so future generations can learn about their families and remember those who have passed away. Tough we have social media now to check in on any family member we like, it’s still sometimes hard for our little ones to get a grasp on how big our families really are and remember all the people within them.

Lucky for us, there are helpful services such as ancestry.com and 23andMe available to us now to make the search a little easier! Ancestry.com is a website that will store your information and help you to compile an extensive family tree over time with documents, photos and connections to other people who are trying to connect the same relatives.

23andMe is a service that will tell you about your family history more in depth because it bases it o of your DNA. Once you send in a sample of saliva — yes you have to send them your spit — they will send you back an abundance of information about your DNA relatives. ere are even versions of 23andMe that will give you medical insights about you based on your DNA. is can be helpful to create a greater understanding of what diseases and illnesses to be cautious of down the line.

But for those of us who just want our children to visualize their family tree, spend a day or weekend diving right into the history of your family. A DIY family tree will help you get a start uncovering your families past. The old-school family tree is a great way to get everyone together and learn a lesson or two about your family’s history. It’s also a great way to share family memories of the past and talk about how your history has helped you family develop today.

With a little bit of help from mom and dad, they’ll be experts on their family tree in no time!

Helpful Tips for your Perfect Family Tree:

Start with everyone in your home, the kids, then Mom and Dad, then slowly work your way up the tree!
Do some research before hand about your family so that your little ones get the most accurate description of each family member.
Go in depth and include things like what each person does for a living.
Don’t add too many sentences so it doesn’t get confusing!

Giggle Tip: Print out pictures of your family members and add them on the tree. That way your child can really see the ow of their family tree!