Rabbi sachs quotes from a study done at Emory…
Rabbi sachs quotes from a study done at Emory University that they came up that the single most important thing that someone can do for your family is really the simplest of all. Develop a strong family narrative. What he says is that the more children know about their family story, the stronger and more successful they become and the more successful they believe that the family functions. What he says is that a family narrative connects children to something that's larger than themselves. It makes them make sense of how they fit into the world that existed before they were born and it gives them the starting point of an identity which in turn gives them confidence. Be sure to always have a family narrative around you. Rabbi sachs continues with Moshe rabino to illustrate this point.
— from Family & Parenting (Family/Parenting) · GB writing
In the book
That is the first thing to understand about family: it is where your flying was shaped long before you had any say in it. And here is the most important reason to take it seriously — the strongest, most successful, most grounded children are not the ones with the most money or the best schools, but the ones who know their family's story. A strong family narrative, researchers found, connects a child to something larger than themselves, helps them make sense of how they fit into a world that existed before they were born, and gives them the bedrock of an identity — which in turn gives them confidence. [Tell here, in your own words, a piece of our family's story — where we came from, a hardship we survived, a person whose character still echoes in us — the kind of story I hope you will keep telling after I am gone.] […] The second is the family narrative — the story you tell about who "we" are. The more your children know that story, the more rooted and resilient they become. So tell it, often, and capture it before it is lost; there are wonderful tools now, like oral-history projects that prompt you through recording your elders' lives, so that the stories survive the people. […] So here is how to fly well within the formation of a family. Build the culture, tell the story. Design your family's priorities on purpose rather than letting them drift, and tell your family's narrative often, because it is the root of your children's confidence. Do the three jobs. Teach, protect, and love — and aim always to raise the child into who they are, not who you wish they were. — Family & Parenting (Family/Parenting)
There is one more piece, and the research is unusually clear about it: the single most powerful thing you can do for a family is the simplest — build a strong family narrative. Children who know the story of where they came from turn out stronger, steadier, more confident, because the story connects them to something larger than themselves and gives them the ground to stand on. The old men who plant trees knowing they will never sit in the shade understand this in their bones — and so the copper beech that needs a hundred and fifty years to mature has to be planted today. […] Raise children who teach others. Your children are your legacy, and a legacy that teaches itself forward is perpetual. Tell the family story, and tell it often. It is the glue, and it gives the young the ground to stand on. Aim at a good name, not a big name. The metric is the people you touched, not the dollars you stacked. — Legacy / The Logbook (Legacy/Epilogue)