A few nights ago, I pulled out our family photo albums and had my son look through them with me. As a long-time scrapbooker, I am very proud of our family photo albums. I spend countless hours connecting the photos to the story of the event and the result is that the albums tend to read more like a story. They also tend to spark memories.

And that was my goal: To share memories with my son. 

While it is true that we focused on photo albums in which he is the main star, I do intend to go back in time a bit and show him the albums from before he was born. In other words, I want him to start hearing our family stories.

Of course, I don't want him to hear those stories just from me - I definitely want other family members to start sharing our family history more often. The time my Grandmother had to wear green underwear, the time my Dad got picked up by the police from elementary school (there was an issue with the road), the time my Mom had to sit through sex education class with a nun as her teacher...these are all the stories that I want passed on to my son. 

Because even if we don't think he is listening, he is getting something from them. Most teens and young adults can tell their family stories and - even better - they are able to get some nugget of wisdom from them later on in life. 

How cool is that?

I think there is room for storytelling in everyday life, but I am also looking forward to the holidays and a chance to hear a little more about the past.

What family stories do you enjoy telling your children? Tell me in the comments.