• Our Family Stories

    There is interesting recent research that shows that younger family members who have more knowledge of their personal family history reap some significant benefits. They tend to exhibit greater emotional resilience, and they face stress and life’s challenges more effectively. A study conducted by Dr. Marshall Duke and Dr. Robyn Fivush, in which they asked children a series of 20 “Do you know” questions about their family history, revealed a strong correlation between knowing family history and emotional resilience. “The more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of  control over their lives, the higher their self esteem and the more successfully they believed their families functioned,” the New York Times reported. Family traditions, stories, and rituals strengthen family bonds and contribute to our sense of belonging to something bigger than ourselves, and create an “intergenerational self”, as Dr. Duke puts it. One way of promoting this understanding of family history is to create an oral […]

    Continue reading