New Year’s Resolutions - Remembering Family History
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The new year is the perfect time to make resolutions! Among the traditional resolutions of getting healthier, trying something new and maybe saving up money for that big purchase you’ve always wanted—why not add some family history resolutions into the mix? Let’s take a closer look at why we make resolutions in the first place in addition to some ideas for family history resolutions you can make for 2021.
Why Make Resolutions?
Resolutions are a great way to set some yearly goals for you. These goals may be something you’ve wanted to do for ages but haven’t been able to commit to, such as losing weight or drinking more water. When it comes to making resolutions related to family history, you are making a resolution to embrace and preserve your family’s history for yourself, your current family, and future generations. After all, if no one knows who’s in old family photographs, how will your family memories get passed down the line?
New Year Family Resolution Ideas
With the reasons for making resolutions in mind, let’s take a closer look at some New Year’s family history related resolution ideas. These resolution ideas will help you get started when you make your 2021 resolution list.
Record your old family members
Far too often, family members pass away without ever having recorded their stories. You can help preserve your family memories by making a resolution to record your elderly family members. Make videos of them enjoying family parties; record them in interviews where you ask about their family, their past, and what history they know about. The more you record, the more can be passed down to children, grandchildren, and so on.
Check out our blog post on how to film your parents/grandparents with a smartphone here.
Check out our blogpost on 10 questions you should ask your parents before it is too late here.
Organize your family photo album
Another resolution you can make is to take those old family photographs and finally organize them into a proper album! Too many people end up with stacks and boxes of photos that they “swear” they’ll organize one day, but they never do. You can change all that in 2021 by making a resolution to finally get those old family photographs together and organize them properly into a book.
Back up your old photos
Family photo albums are a window into your family history. The names, faces and stories of your family members are all held in your cherished photos and family films. Many people do not think about backing up their family photo albums and family films until something has happened to damage them, such as water or fire damage; thankfully, it is easier than ever to back up your old photos and keep your family history safe and secure.
Check out our blog post on how to back up old photos here.
Create a digital cloud for photo sharing
Modern photo sharing is easier than ever thanks to the cloud! If you want to share photos with family across the country or even across the world, all you need to do is upload family photos (and even videos) to a cloud that they can access. Not only will a cloud help other family members access precious family memories, but it acts as a back-up for those family photos and videos so that in case the originals get lost or damaged, you have a copy on hand.
Check out our blog post on how to share family videos online privately here.
Create new family memories
Finally, you should resolve in 2021 to make new family memories! Family memories are something that you and your family will cherish for generations to come, whether they’re memories of making holiday cookies in the kitchen, watching a film together while snuggled on the couch, or hosting a snowball fight in the back yard.
Click here for some fun family history activities to do whilst in lockdown.
With the above resolutions in mind, your 2021 will be full of great family memories.
To learn which is the best software for doing a family tree click here.
To learn how to trace holocaust survivors and victims in your family history click here.
To learn whether we should record the lives of our pets click here.