What story has been making the rounds in your family for years?

Most families have a story that is told when the family gets together.

Stories are important in our lives so I thought it would be helpful to learn what stories are popular in your family and how you feel about them.

Sharing family stories may have a strong message. Stories are a way of keeping family history alive, as they demonstrate resilience or recall both painful and joyful times.

Many people are struggling, we need to be willing to be open about difficult experiences, because it shows our children that they are not alone in going through something hard. The more family members share stories with one another, the more we can understand our relatives.

People often don’t talk too much about the traumatic times because they don’t want to upset their children. My dad was easy going unless I wasted food, I knew he had been a prisoner of war on the railway. As he was almost 40 years older than me, I always thought of him as old. One day he showed me a photo of him as 21-year-old before he headed off overseas. This man in the photo was young and hopeful, there were six men in the photo, my dad had scrawled on the photo that three died on the railway, two died a few years after the war and I added the last note that he died in 2007.

I feel ashamed that when I was a teenager, I did not value the wonderful stories my parents shared with us. He told so many stories, funny ones, incredibly sad ones, embarrassing ones about me, he had a story for any topic, you name a subject and out would come a story.

I am wondering if you could share with us any stories from your family and extended family or stories you may tell nieces, nephews, children, and grandchildren. Was there one special story your family was known for.

Do you think stories are important or do you feel some stories have been told too often?

Leah 

A Moodscope member