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Tag: parenting (Page 11 of 14)

Why do genealogy?

June 18, 2018 /

Dick Eastman recently posted a thought-provoking piece on why people devote large portions of their lives to recording their family histories. Eastman correctly asserted that genealogy demands time and attention to detail. It can be expensive and require sacrifice to ensure you’re as accurate as possible. Meanwhile, the rest of our families sit bewildered as to why we would find seemingly mundane ancestors and events so fascinating.

In his post, Eastman postulated on the different motivations of amateur genealogists and identified a dichotomy in the endeavor between family historians and simple name gatherers. Name gatherers fill out pedigree charts with names and dates and little more. Family historians go much deeper, looking for the back stories and nuances that give our families character. The metaphor I’ve always used is one of human anatomy: your names and dates compose the skeleton of your family tree. But skeletons aren’t that interesting to look at. The pictures, biographical information, and stories add flesh to that skeleton and turn it into something truly attractive.

I have no issues with the name gatherer: at least, he’s taking the time to document that which might otherwise be lost. I started as a name gatherer, though I’ve since fallen into the deep end of amateur genealogy. Have you taken the genealogical red pill yet? If not, here are a few reasons why you should consider the hobby:

If not you, who?

I’m quite certain you and your family, living and dead, have achieved noteworthy accomplishments. These accomplishments may have been recorded in random newspapers, trophy cases, or elsewhere but they’ll never be collected in one compendium unless someone takes the time to do so. Who’s going to do that? It’s time to get off the bench and get into the game!

The ol’ Kid’s Family Report

If you have children, it’s almost a certainty that one day they’ll approach you with a school assignment to write about their family history. Imagine the hero you’ll be if you can, within minutes, generate a report for your child detailing the last five or six generations of your family.

Know your medical history

Is there a history of some particular illness in your family? That knowledge might help you adjust habits in your life to avoid participating in that history. You might help your children in that regard, as well. Your family’s medical history is a detail you can uncover as a family historian. Related to my earlier point, my daughter took an anatomy class this year in which one of her assignments was to produce a report of her family’s medical history. Because I had been documenting this information for years, I was able to quickly generate a report for her going back four or five generations of the different medical conditions endured by our ancestors.

Help you better understand your own strengths and weaknesses

Were your ancestors inventive and entrepreneurial? Were they consistent and hard working? Did they have a tendency to take risks or did they live more on the safe side? Understanding the general dispositions of your ancestors might help you feel more confident to start that new business or take on a rather risky task–or maybe just play it safe.

Write the history

If you write your family’s history, you control the narrative. If you have particular heroes in your family, you can choose to emphasize their achievements. You have the power to influence future generations. As Uncle Ben once said, “with great power comes great responsibility.” Obviously, honesty and fairness are critical to incorporate in your narrative. This is your opportunity to paint an appropriate picture of your family for future generations.

Meet heretofore unknown family members

Documenting your family tree will reveal family members you never knew you had–perhaps even in your own town. These people are sure to provide a perspective on your ancestors you may be unaware of.

Connect with a community of creative and hard-working genealogists

My fellow amateur genealogists always seem to surprise me with the creative and tech-savvy ways they solve their genealogical mysteries. Here I am–a professional technologist–and some retired grandmother is showing me a Google search technique I’ve never seen before or demonstrating a use of certain genealogical software I didn’t know existed. Genealogy really does require tenacity, energy, and an attention to detail that is commonplace in this community. It can be refreshing to brush elbows with such people.

Inject your own creativity into your work

Every family historian must be a name gatherer first. The family historian, though, goes well beyond name gathering to truly “flesh out” his tree. Here, I think, is a great opportunity for fun and creativity. For example, I video tape virtually every family event I attend, especially reunions, and will occasionally edit reunion video together for fun family artifacts. I’ve interviewed several family members and both recorded and transcribed those interviews. I try to record interesting details like each member’s job histories and even their childhood heroes. Here is a chance to be creative and really represent your relatives in interesting and unconventional ways.

Channel your inner data nerd

This one may not be for everyone, but if you have data nerdist tendencies, what better data to explore than that of your own family? Analyze family migrations or life expectancy or occupation choices. Your family data is probably completely untapped and filled with interesting trends and outliers.

Time is fleeting

I was lucky enough to catch the genealogy bug while still in college. For the next several years, I would spend one week every summer at my grandfather’s farm, computer in front of me, Grandpa to one side, keying in hundreds of handwritten pedigree charts he had created and maintained for the last several decades. I was truly a name gatherer at that point. My grandfather’s efforts saved me countless hours of research. He helped me answer questions that might have forever gone unanswered. Because I started as early as I did, I was able to interview three of my grandparents and several great aunts and uncles and collect information that may have been lost forever. At the very least, for time sake, start your name gathering today!

If you decide you want to get started, make sure to check out Dick Eastman’s excellent “getting started” guide.

Wrapping up the school year

June 6, 2018 /

In the US, this is the time when schools let out for the summer–well, actually, that time began a week or two ago, but just humor me here.  Clearly, this is an important transition time from school year to summer break.  The rigor of the school schedule is gone, the “free” yellow bus transportation services are no more, late night homework and study sessions take a hiatus.  We’re now looking at the blank canvas of Summer.  Of course, as parents, our schedules don’t change and, in many ways, become harder as we struggle to find summer activities for the kids and ways to transport them there.

Nevertheless, as our children wrap up their school years, here are some actions I try to take to make the transition into Summer a little easier and more organized:

Scan, Scan, Scan

Hopefully, you’re scanning the hard copy documents, awards, and pictures your children bring home with them all throughout the year (and otherwise retaining electronic versions of report cards, etc).  Scanning, say, an award certificate as soon as your child receives it can be helpful for at least two reasons: 1) your scanner will affix the current date to your file helping you know, years from now, when your child earned that award (particularly if the award date isn’t on the certificate) and 2) the affixed date will help you organize such files so that it’s easier to include them with other, related family media.

Regardless, your children will still bring home large amounts of documents in the days before school ends.  I try to go through all these documents and scan as many as makes sense.  School photos?  Check.  Awards and certificates?  Absolutely.  Report cards, standardized test results, and the like?  Definitely.  Writing assignments, poems, and so forth?  Yep.  Going through the effort of scanning these items now can be time consuming, but is well worth it years later when the hard copies are long gone and all you have are those electronic memories.

Take Pictures

I certainly take pictures of my children at their various school events throughout the year and especially at their various end-of-year ceremonies.  I also try to take a few pictures of them in their school uniforms and at the bus stop awaiting its arrival.  I try to include their fellow travelers, as well, as some of those students may be graduating and moving on.  One could even go so far as to print up a sign saying something like, “last day for 4th grade!” and have his child hold the sign in a picture–I wouldn’t recommend that for your older children, though.

Consider filing your child’s notes and related documents

My oldest is a fantastic note taker.  On more than one occasion, we’ve been able to pull her notes out of storage and use them to help the younger ones get through a class or two the older one had already traversed.  Here’s another true story: for my first semester of college, I studied abroad in Singapore.  When I returned to campus in January, I learned that students could take placement tests to test out of certain required classes.  So, I went home and collected the two or three three-ring binders I kept of my Calculus notes from my senior year in high school.  I studied these for several days, took the placement test, and was able to test out of three semesters of math classes.  Cheap credit hours there!  Thus, retaining and organizing your child’s class notes and associated documentation could be a worthwhile endeavor.

Say, “Thanks”

“Thank yous” are free–except for the outrageously priced thank-you cards.  At any rate, your children should thank their teachers, school staff, and even the bus driver.  A card and gift might even be appropriate.  A “thank you” now might be worth a recommendation letter later.

Postmortem?

Often at work, after a project, the team will gather to do a “postmortem” or collect “lessons learned”–simply a list of things that went well, things that didn’t, and ways future projects can learn from the one just finishing.  You could consider helping your child do the same.  What did he like about the year?  What did he hate?  What teachers and classes did he enjoy and why?  Which ones did he not enjoy?  What tools did he use to study for tests and organize his assignments?  Did these work out for him or should he spend some time finding replacements?  These moments of introspection might help your child become more efficient next year.  They could help him decide on career and major as college draws near.  They could help you better coach any younger children you have following in this child’s footsteps.  You might even share your notes with parents of other, younger children entering the grade your child just completed.

Plan out the summer

What, you thought you had a break for a couple of months?  To me, summer is a great time to get a jump on the competition, er, fellow students.  I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but schools seem much more academically–and, certainly, athletically–competitive than they did when I was young.  So, while the competition is lounging by the pool, consider enrolling your children in summertime academic courses that can help them get ahead.  In summers past, we’ve enrolled our kids in Mathnasium and different sessions at the local college and community center.  Ask yourself, what are some of your child’s academic goals?

  • Competing to get into a higher math class?
  • Preparing for an upcoming standardized test?
  • Simply easing some of the anticipated pressures of the next school year?

Summertime academic courses can help meet these objectives and more.

Also new these days is the dreaded Summer homework.  Establishing a plan for your child to knock these requirements out early seems a wise thing to do.  Hopefully, you also have some idea of projects to expect in the next school year.  For example, my child will have to construct a science fair project in his next year.  I hope to spend some of this Summer at least brainstorming with him what we might try to tackle and maybe even begin gathering relevant material.  Whatever your plans are, develop and implement them early before your child gets too used to a life of leisure.

Get a teacher recommendation

If your child is already a junior or senior in high school, he either already has one or more recommendation letters or is actively working on getting one for his college applications, assuming he’s going that route.  But what if your child simply needs a recommendation for a job or maybe an internship?  Before the school doors close and the teachers disappear into the hinterlands, get a recommendation letter if you think you might need one.

Friend contact information

When you see your friends everyday at school, you may not think about how to contact them outside of the establishment.  But if your child wishes to hang out with his school chums over the break, he’ll want to make sure to get phone numbers and email addresses of them before the building shutters.

Read a good book

During the summer, kids usually can’t make the claim that they have no time to read.  Challenge your child to read a good book or two: how about one from this list?

Talk to other parents

Before the year ends, I try to chat up a parent or two of students one grade higher than mine.  What sorts of challenges should my kid be aware of next year?  What teachers and classes should we be wary of?  And so on.  Gather some intelligence on the next grade and prepare for those challenges over the break so you’re ready for them.

Sell your books?

Academic books can be outrageously expensive.  If you really think you won’t need them for reference or for a younger sibling, consider selling those books to another student and try to recoup some of your expense.

 

Any other tips I missed?  If so, please leave them in the comments!

Preparing for college and career

May 23, 2018 /

My eldest is finishing up her junior year of high school; thus, we’re deep in the throes of college planning. It’s quite an intimidating process and I’m doing what I can to educate myself as fast as possible. This post will be Part 1 of N number of posts about the adventure of college and career planning for my kids.

As podcasts are a chief conduit for my learning, I’m always looking for content that speak to the challenge of helping your kids prepare for college and career. One that I’ve found recently is the Plan for College Now podcast. The fourth episode–Get hired! Be the grad every employer will want to hire!–is dense with material for the soon-to-be college graduate, but can easily be applied to high schoolers and even present day laborers. Here are notes I took on this episode that you may find useful.

Think career first

The traditional American template for college planning seems to be: 1) choose a college that feels like the right fit for you, 2) once at that college, choose a major that feels like a good fit, and 3) once in that major, near your graduation date, begin to ponder your career options. This thinking is backwards. Individuals should: 1) first peruse the job market and try to identify several potential careers that might fit their goals, then 2) identify one or more college majors that match such careers and finally 3) match those majors to an appropriate college.

Prepare for the working world

You should constantly be monitoring the job market, especially in order to pick a degree that won’t soon go obsolete. As an aside, I’m reminded of the book Worthless that I read recently imploring youth not to pick degrees that aren’t worth the price of tuition. Someday I’ll have to write a review of that book.

Students should build their set of skills. Mentorships and internships are two important ways to do this. Would developing a specialty in your field of study boost your earning potential and increase your marketability? If so, specialize! The host then rattled off a number of ways you can set up an internship:

Network

Yes, actually talking to people can help you land a great job. Of course, the 21st century puts an interesting spin on this time-tested tradition. You can begin networking by simply talking to family, friends, school career counselors, professors, and school administrators. Another aside: check out this Art of Maniless podcast on the Art of Mingling…I imagine those skills would be very helpful in developing a professional network.

Later in the podcast, the host interviewed an expert of professional networking and she offered these tips for getting started building your network:

  • Tip 1: Focus on the outcomes of building relationships for your future career, not just your current job. This tip certainly speaks to me. I am not an extrovert and so, when I’m happy in my present job, I don’t feel inclined to be social with other professionals. Big mistake. I should always be thinking about building my professional network–you never know what sort of wonderful opportunity might be out there.
  • Tip 2: Communicate what you do, how you do it, and who you do it for so that people can see how they’ll benefit from meeting you.
  • Tip 3: Don’t forget to develop your online profile. Include a picture, too. Remember that your online networking and your profile is your marketing brochure. LinkedIn, of course, seems the obvious place to begin this work.
  • Tip 4: Create a routine of reaching out, especially with LinkedIn requests.

Social Media dos and don’ts

Do: use social media vehicles, such as LinkedIn, to stay in touch with people in particular industries in which you’re interested
Don’t: use social media for foolishness. Don’t be vulgar online, don’t post indiscreet pictures, and be extremely careful about posting your social and political views. There are plenty of stories out there about people losing job opportunities because of foolish things they’ve done online. Heck, in the recent NFL draft, one draftee might have placed his career at stake for stupid statements he posted while in high school. Take this lesson seriously!

Research the job market

The host reeled off a number of awesome tools and sites for researching hot industries and jobs:

Students should ask themselves, what skills are employers looking for in new hires? Apparently, the site Inside Higher Ed has some helpful hints in this area.

Regarding STEM jobs (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), host Jim Wilkerson had this piece of wisdom:

“It’s a high tech digital world, folks, so you better embrace it because that’s where the jobs are going to be and the good paying jobs, as well.”

Agreed (but I am a little biased).

Employers want employees with excellent written and verbal skills. I certainly concur. Should you wish to improve these skills, check out this list of free writing courses.

Apparently, you can tailor your job market research by geographies of interest or interest in simply working from home. To that end, he mentioned the following resources:

Of course, the work-from-home-thing is rife with scams, so check out these resources to make sure that awesome work-from-home opportunity isn’t too good to be true:

Maintain good physical and financial health

I took some issue with this part of the podcast. The host said, “due to the high cost of financial stress, many companies now do credit checks on all new hires.” Really? Is that even legal? He was suggesting that it can be expensive for companies to hire professionals that are distracted by their personal financial issues and/or succumb to illness from such stress. I suppose that makes sense, but I just can’t see how that would fly in today’s super anti-discrimination climate. The host goes on to talk about the importance of staying physically healthy and certainly offer the appearance of being physically healthy. I’m sure appearing physically ill or unfit (or appearing old, like me) will diminish your job prospects to some degree, but, again, I would guess today’s climate would rail against such things.

Learn about your prospective companies

The host summed up this point pretty succinctly:

“Never go into an interview without looking at their [the company’s] website….Employers are not impressed with candidates who don’t take the time to complete this simple step.”

Research the company to which you are applying and/or interviewing with. Read press releases, read their website, and read about their core values. In your cover letter, include the same language they use in their values statements, mission and goals. Your resume and cover letter should include words from their job description in case they do word matches to compare your resume to their job posting and make sure your resume is tailored for the job to which you’re applying. Here are two more resources he noted to help with this endeavor:

Also, never lie to your prospective employer. You will get caught and it won’t be pretty.

Your attitude

Whether networking or interviewing, project the right attitude: be energetic, confident, make eye contact, and be positive. Think about what value you can offer the company and make sure you speak in these terms.

“Always keep your eye on the goal: a good job offer once you graduate.” (Jim Wilkerson)

Again, this was a great podcast brimming over with valuable resources to help your child or even yourself succeed in the job market. The only other thing I would add that doesn’t seem to get mentioned in these types of discussions is Entrepreneurship. I try to always make sure my kids know that there is a second option: come up with a great idea and build a business around it yourself. Keep your options open and understand that there’s more than one route to success.

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