The foresight to give hindsight

Protecting and sharing your family's old pictures and stories is something I'm passionate about and think everyone should do. And, believe it or not, both the process and the result really can be fun, interesting and satisfying! But, why should you believe me and more importantly, why should you put preserving and sharing your old pictures and family stories at the top of your "to do" list?

Well, if you're a parent (or even an aunt, uncle or cousin), this research by Drs. Marshall Duke and Robyn Fivush of Emory University may be sufficiently compelling. Go to www.marial.emory.edu/research/index.html and click on "The Intergenerational Self: Subjective Perspective and Family History" to read the whole paper, but here's the bottom-line: "when children heard stories about the 'characters' in their family's history, they saw them as heros, as larger than life, as having lessons to teach. Further, in that these heros were part of their own families, children developed that sense of specialness that I believe provided them with not only resilience in the face of inevitable life challenges, but with resistance to, even immunity from, the effects of various life stresses."¹

Older children also benefit from knowing the family history: "preadolescents' knowledge of their family history is an important contributor to their developing sense of self and well-being. Preadolescents who develop a sense of self as embedded in both a shared and intergenerational family context show higher levels of self-understanding and well-being compared to their peers who do not know their family history as well, suggesting that the development of an intergenerational self, a self embedded in a larger familial history, may be a resilience factor as children approach adolscence."²

In other words, the stories we tell our children about our families are quite important and old family pictures are an easy catalyst for such conversation. Try putting an interesting old family picture as the computer screen saver or display some on a digital picture frame. I bet you'll catch your child's interest and attention.

Children and adolescents are not the only family members who benefit from sharing family pictures and stories. Those in our families who suffer from Alzheimer's or for other reasons have impaired memory (e.g. brain trauma) seem to benefit as well. Despite a lack of hard scientific study results, there is abundant anecdotal evidence that the use of photographs with memory-impaired individuals allows them to access lost memories and provides them with a connection with their forgotten selves. Pictures also give caregivers and therapists a window to the patient as he or she was prior to the illness or injury and serve as a vehicle for interaction. ^3,4

I created a calendar for my mother-in-law of pictures of her as a baby and as a teen, of her parents, her husband and children, and of her favorite hobbies. She loved it and the pictures encouraged her to refer to the calendar to help her track the days. It also was a conversation starter for her caregivers. It is one of the most meaningful gifts I've ever given.

So there you go. Dig out those old pictures. Convince other family members to send you the family pictures they have and enlist their storytelling help. Bring those pictures and stories of your family's heros and characters into the life of your family. It matters...really.

Your Photo Coach,
Jiffy


¹marial.emory.edu/faculty/duke.html. Project title: "Family Narratives"
²www.marial.emory.edu/pdfs/dukefivush_intergenself.doc, p.9, 5 March 2007
³Mark D. Mizen, PhD. www.creativememories.com/AlzheimersAlbum.pdf. Undated. 10 June 2006. http://www.creativememories.com
⁴Judy Weiser, "Phototherapy Techniques: Using Clients' Personal Snapshots and Family Photos as Counseling and Therapy Tools, In Memory of Arnold Gassan - photographer, poet and Photo Therapy pioneer," Afterimage, Nov-Dec,2001. 12 June 2006. http://www.findarticles.com