In order to make family history research into your ancestors fun for the whole family, you have to think of what you would find fun, especially for the children.
Unless your spouse is interested in finding his or her own family, it may be hard to get their interest.
If your family likes to travel it is a wonderful excuse to go where your ancestors came from.
Often, that trip will be overseas and what fun.
Start with your immediate family, however, and find all that you can about it.
Then you can travel to where the family members lived in the United States and use all the resources available there before you head overseas.
Make that trip as enjoyable as possible.
Tell your children about their ancestors.
They will love to hear how they resemble grandma and grandpa and maybe an aunt or uncle.
How excited they will be to hear about the escapades of their relatives in college or the military.
Children love cemeteries.
On a nice day, just amble through one and see if you can find any relatives.
Usually the caretaker will have the names of the people buried and the area where you can find them.
Just be sure you find the right names.
Relatives are not always buried close together and I have an uncle whose first wife is not buried in his plot but clear across the cemetery.
It is fun to make rubbings of the stones and save them.
The practice is controversial, however, as most stones are getting old and fragile.
Always ask the cemetery caretaker or historical society if they allow rubbings.
Some do not even allow the taking of pictures, but if they do and don't allow rubbings, take pictures with your digital camera and then you can load them into your computer.
Children love to take pictures.
If you are allowed to make rubbings, use crayons and large pieces of white paper such as butcher paper.
Tape it down over the whole stone and gently and then maybe, use a little more force and rub the crayon over the stone.
Never rub over a worn or cracked stone.
If you take pictures, label them with the row and number of the plot, the names of the ancestors, the ages and sometimes you will see the name of the birthplace.
Do not write on the pictures but label them on the back or bottom in pencil putting all the information you would need to find the graves again.
Research may be boring for the rest of the family, but your enthusiasm will no doubt rub off onto them.
Set a time limit and have treats after so much is accomplished.
Dedicated genealogists seem to never tire and go on and on.
Use your imagination and you will come up with ideas that will make the search enjoyable for the whole family.