When I was a kid, my father would retell familiar stories every Thanksgiving. We loved them. As I got older, there was some rolling of eyes. 

Now, I regret that we didn’t record that precious voice, those old stories, for my children and grandchild. 

Psychologists say that one of the gifts we can give our kids is a sense of family history: who came before, and what their lives were like. And, include stories of difficulty, even failure, to give the child the sense that they are part of a resilient story, still unfolding. They will hear how people handled adversity and uncertainty, parts of any life, and know they, too, can face them. 

Bruce Feiler, best-selling author of many books on family, wrote in the New York Times ten years ago:  

“…if you want a happier family, create, refine, and retell the story of your family’s positive moments and your ability to bounce back from the difficult ones. That act alone may increase the odds that your family will thrive for many generations to come.”

So, though we don’t want devices at special family time, we’re lucky now; most of us have the only tool needed for a family audio archive – that phone – in our pockets. Turn the video on and turn attention to telling and listening. A bonus: the buy-in from older children and young adults and experiencing healthy use of technology for everyone. 
StoryCorps has great prompts.  Listen, share, and enjoy! Warm wishes for a joyful holiday.

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