This presentation will discuss ways that ancestral stories—obtained from actual documents and records—can be converted to children’s stories. The created story is not necessarily going to be entirely genealogically accurate. The goal of stories for children is to hopefully nurture an interest in their family history, not bore them to tears with an endless list of names and dates. We will discuss the need to omit certain details, fictionalize dialog, and keep the story at the appropriate age level. We will encourage attendees to develop their stories orally as well as via the written word, reminding them that sometimes it’s easier to transcribe a spoken story than it is to write it from scratch. Specific examples discussed will be a story created from an 1820 pig theft in Kentucky, a Nebraska homesteader, and a migration from Indiana to Illinois during the Civil War. We’ll see the actual story and the age-appropriate story that was created from it. The session will conclude with ways to preserve and share the story—and the actual experience that precipitated the creation of the story as well.
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Syllabus
While Michael was talking I was picturing the story I could tell about “Grandpa Joseph drove a streetcar. One day Eddie rode his dad’s streetcar to school.” Grandpa Joseph really did drive a streetcar and his son, Ed, did go to a school close to the streetcar route. I know these things from a census record and a newspaper article about Eddie being in end-of-school activities. Thanks for so many great ideas!
Some great ideas! Just do it – get started. Stories develop as they are retold. Children ask great questions to add details to your stories. Make stories simple and child-relatable. Have Fun!
Very enjoyable. New idea. I do not live close to my younger nieces and nephews, but I send Christmas cards to them. I was lucky enough to get some stories when I was much younger that I should probably put in a story for them since all of our Dad’s generation and his parents generation are now gone. I have been worried that some of them could go with me. This gave me some great ideas about how to pass them on. Thank you!
I have been thinking of writing stories for my young grand niece and grand nephew and now I have some guidance and examples. Before the webinar was over, I had identified many ideas for stories appropriate for children.
Lots of good ideas! Made me think about all sorts of possibilities.
“Just do it” I need to— Thank you for the ‘spot on’ suggestions, and simplifying the process.
Great ideas for getting our young ones interested in Family and History. I’m looking forward to creating some stories for our Grand Nieces and Nephews so they ccan understand how their great grandparents came to the United States.
Michael is very knowledgeable on the subjects of family history and story telling and his voice was very easy to listen to. This was an enjoyable webinar.