Last year I was invited to the school of one of my grandchildren for "Grandparents Day" - where all manner of stories were told at the school assembly. It was a precious day, and the children made lovely gifts earlier which they gave to grandparents. It inspired me to write to all my four grandchildren with stories about MY grandparents - folk that they never met, and to be fair, I had very little recollection about as I was very young when two passed away.
My grandmother Minnie died when I was four, and her husband Wally, whom I remember well died in the 1960's. My grandfather on the other side of the family died when I was ten, and his wife Nanna, aged 89, died in 1975. I spent quite a bit of time on research and write two pages about them.
(I named my two new goldfish Minnie and Wally, but Minnie died - so I have Minnietoo now)
I actually like to inspire my grandchildren to write to me - as I am a great letter writer. (Two of my grandchildren are staying with me and when they saw me using my fountain pen, they were puzzled as they had never seen a pen and ink before!!!)
While I did the long epistle about my grandparents on the computer and printed it - I hand wrote the accompanying letter. Master - (11 years old) claims that it is too hard to write - his hand gets tired. I think his hand is exhausted from continual tapping on his iPhone!!!
Still, it is a good exercise to write as much as you can remember about YOUR grandparents, or even great grandparents if you can - and leave the story (a) for your family and (b) maybe put it on a blog or something. It is probably an easier exercise for young people as they probably know their grandparents or the stories are familiar, but if one is in their 60's or 70's writing about grandparents is a greater challenge.
Perhaps I should have a blog collecting grandparents stories from readers..... no, just do it yourself and save it somewhere or post to grandchildren or other family members.
My grandmother Minnie died when I was four, and her husband Wally, whom I remember well died in the 1960's. My grandfather on the other side of the family died when I was ten, and his wife Nanna, aged 89, died in 1975. I spent quite a bit of time on research and write two pages about them.
(I named my two new goldfish Minnie and Wally, but Minnie died - so I have Minnietoo now)
I actually like to inspire my grandchildren to write to me - as I am a great letter writer. (Two of my grandchildren are staying with me and when they saw me using my fountain pen, they were puzzled as they had never seen a pen and ink before!!!)
While I did the long epistle about my grandparents on the computer and printed it - I hand wrote the accompanying letter. Master - (11 years old) claims that it is too hard to write - his hand gets tired. I think his hand is exhausted from continual tapping on his iPhone!!!
Still, it is a good exercise to write as much as you can remember about YOUR grandparents, or even great grandparents if you can - and leave the story (a) for your family and (b) maybe put it on a blog or something. It is probably an easier exercise for young people as they probably know their grandparents or the stories are familiar, but if one is in their 60's or 70's writing about grandparents is a greater challenge.
Perhaps I should have a blog collecting grandparents stories from readers..... no, just do it yourself and save it somewhere or post to grandchildren or other family members.
Minnie and Wally and baby me.
8 comments:
Oh it pains me that your grandkids didn't know what a ink pen was. I love to write and constantly have pen and paper with me. This is a wonderful idea, thanks for sharing!
I think it's a great idea to write about our grandparents. I've written a lot about my maternal grandmother. Perhaps I should write about my other grandparents too. Nice post.
The importance of remembering our ancestors is often left till it's too late! Great idea to leave them some history.
A most interesting post Di. You would encourage your grandchildren to write as well.
I am trying Peter. But they prefer their ipods etc.
Thanks for your comment Jamie. I work at a historical village and am quite surprised to learn what some children don't know.
Thanks Suzy, for your comment. Go do it!!!
Yes, Tamsin. Do it know - otherwise they might pass on and the information will be lost.
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