4 in 5 Moms Want to Share Stories About Their Past, But They’re Not Being Asked
“Storytelling is our obligation to the next generation”
Ancestry, the family history platform, has released survey findings that reveal Americans have a blind spot about what their parents’ lives were like before parenthood. In fact, only 37% are familiar with their mother’s life before having them – yet, an overwhelming majority of moms (79%) are willing to share their stories.
Despite this lack of generational storytelling, most Americans (79%) want to know more about their parents’ lives before them, but their kids haven’t asked because they think parents don’t want to share (23%) or they simply haven’t thought to ask (22%). However, parents have fantastic stories to tell – especially since 74% of moms believe they’re cooler than their kids think. Now, with new Ancestry tools that spark meaningful generational conversations and provide a way to preserve mom’s memories, everyone has the power of storytelling at their fingertips.
“Storytelling is our obligation to the next generation,” said Crista Cowan, Corporate Genealogist at Ancestry. “Records, family trees and DNA are the foundation of family history research, showing us snapshots of our ancestors’ lives and relationships between people – and Ancestry’s newest storytelling tools also allow us to share even more detail about what makes each of us, us. By adding photos and audio recordings of our family stories, memories and legacies can be preserved forever for generations to come.”
Survey Findings
*We Know Little About Our Mom’s Life Before Kids, Yet She’s Vital to Our Upbringing
*Less than half of Americans (37%) are familiar with their mom’s family history/past.
*Yet most Americans (83%) say their mom raised them the most growing up, and the majority of respondents say they feel closest to their mom out of any relative (36%), compared to dad (29%). There’s a Lot We Don’t Know About Our Parents
*When it comes to the details of our parents’ lives before they had kids, only few Americans know about what music they listened to (19%), what they struggled with growing up (14%) and what they wanted to be when they grew up (13%).
*As adult children, more than half of Americans wish they knew more about their parents’ happiest moments (57%) and most valuable life lesson learned (53%).
*Most parents in America (79%) think they’re cooler than their children think they are, especially Millennial parents (85%). Parents Want Their Memories to Live On
*Parents in the U.S. want to share more about their lives before having a family because they want to keep their memories alive (70%) and pass on their experiences (68%).
*When it comes to the next generation, parents want their kids to pass on pieces of their life story, especially their happiest moment (59%), most valuable life lesson (56%) and biggest accomplishment (55%).
Ancestry invites everyone to learn more about who their parents were before them and preserve their stories for future generations.