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What is Thanksgiving all about? Being thankful for the things we have and remembering why we have them. Our family heritage is a good place to begin when it comes to teaching our children about Thanksgiving. It gives them a foundation of why they are who they are and where they came from. Older adults have the memories to help children learn and understand this. Putting the two together can make for very interesting conversation and the chance to get to know one another in a new way.

Have the older members of your family bring old family pictures to your home on Thanksgiving. After the big feast have everyone gather together to look at the pictures.

Grandmas and Grandpas can tell your children whom the people in the pictures are and about what year the pictures were taken. They can point out the different types of clothes they are wearing and how that used to be the norm. Children can discuss how things have changed and how different those clothes were compared to what we wear today.

Have grandparents talk about how life is so different from when they were a child. How their Mom and Dad’s looked at the world. Talk about where their ancestors came from and how they got to the United States in the first place.

Let the children listen to the stories their grandparents have to tell. Life has changed so much from years gone by and children need to know these differences and how it affects their world.

Talking about the family and giving children some information on where they came from and how life used to be can be not only entertaining but a great educational lesson also. Giving grandparents the center stage to talk about the things that matter to them to their grandchildren can put a smile on their face and take them back to days gone by. Being together and learning about their family is certainly something for all to be thankful for.

Submitted by Christmas Fun

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