Creating a Family Tree
My mother is your grandmother and my sister is your aunt....is
this how you teach your kids about your family? How each of us
relates to each other and who is a mother to whom? Why not use a
family tree to elaborate on how each of us is connected to each
other? A family tree is not only exceptionally useful as a
teaching tool for kids, but it gives us a whole new perspective
in life too. Building a family tree can also be a fun
lazy-Sunday-afternoon activity with the kids.
Building a family tree can be simple, depending on the kind of
family tree you want to build. An elaborate one will take a much
longer time, for example, if you want to cut out pieces of
colored paper and pasting them with pictures and short write-ups
on the family member. Some people will just draw a family tree
and color portions of it into the family tree. Kids love it and
even adults will enjoy this simple and calming activity.
Innovation and advancement in technology catches up with our
needs too - because there are family tree creators in the form
of softwares and computer programs that can help people create
their family tree easily. Using these softwares to create a
family tree takes only minutes and can be colored in and pasted
over too. Using softwares to create a family tree is for people
who are not keen on the paper, scissor, glue and goo concept of
creating family trees. Don't be surprised, there ARE people who
are not too keen on getting down there with art papers sticking
to their clothes! Kids can have fun creating family tree online
too or with a software program. It depends on individual
preferences, really.
A family tree is nothing more than a bunch of charts that links
one person to another in a family. You can start from whichever
ancestor you want. For those who are interested in genealogy,
you can go as far back as you want. Creating a family tree that
is as in-depth as that may require some investigation,
interviewing of family members, and also research. If you can't
find your family members or are not in touch with them over some
period of time, it may be a little bit more difficult to fill in
the blanks in your family tree. However, with tools like
www.familysearch.com, www.rootsweb.com, and www.usgenweb.vom,
things are much easier than before.
So, go ahead and have some fun creating your family tree now!!