Now How Are We Related?

Jaydon is starting to understand family relationships.  Last night we had a session about who this person is and who this person is and how we are all related.  He is grasping the aunt/uncle/cousin thing fairly well.  I didn't try to do the first, second, cousin thing.  Just kept it simple.  I could see him thinking, so to speak, as we talked.  He was trying to put it all together and get the relationship figured out in his mind. I asked him if they were learning about family members in school, but he answered that he was just trying to figure out how he was related to everybody in the family.

I tried to remember how I came to understand how all my family was related.  I don't remember anyone ever explaining all the relationships, I just seemed to always know.  But at some point someone had to have explained that this person was an aunt or uncle or a cousin.  I also had great grandmothers and great aunts and uncles, too.  I do remember one afternoon when I was about 13 or 14 when I sat down and copied birth dates from my grandmother's Bible.  There were a few deaths listed there, too.  She had 9 brothers and sisters so there was quite a list.  I still have that handwritten list.  I also remember my grandmother and mother sitting at the table after meals and discussing family members.  Maybe that is where I learned who was who in my family.

It was fun talking with Jaydon about our family and watching him try to put it all together.  One of life's little things, figuring out how you are related to everyone in the family you love.