Every family has a history, comprised of the record of photographs of people, places and things that make up life. Photos today are usually digital, stored on a hard drive or social media channel. But for the past 100 years, photo were prized keepsakes, carefully stored in photo albums.
That visual history may be tucked away in a closet in your parent or grandparent’s home. Albums can be a treasure for your elderly family member as well as you and your children; bringing out an album is a prompt to share stories about ancestors and the momentous occasions of life.
Here are some suggestions about preserving family history through photos:
- Encourage the senior adult to review the photos and if the people in the images are not identified on the back, to gently write their names and the date it was taken on the back
- Consider sharing images with the younger generation. It might mean removing images or pages from the album, but it passes history into the hands of today’s young adults
- Digitize important images to more easily share with family members
- If someone in the family is a fan of genealogy, they might love the photos! If the people are identified, images can be uploaded to an online ancestry site to be easily shared.
When visiting your aging family member, sitting together over an old photo album can be an enjoyable way to share and remember. Sometimes the elderly person who has trouble remembering current events or names of people around them, can clearly recall the names of childhood friends and events from many years ago.
At FootPrints Home Care, we understand the value of family and making memories. If we can help share in the care of your aging parent or loved one, please call our New Mexico office.
