Marshal Duke, a clinical psychologist at Emory University, conducted a study on how to give children better coping skills for life. Duke found that the children who were the most resilient were also the ones who knew the most about their family background. Where were they the most likely to encounter family lore? During Family Home Evening? Discussion during family meals together? or on this Orson Pratt Brown Family Website!!
Beginning in 2001, Duke and his colleagures studied the members of 42 middle-class families, each with a child between nine and thirteen years of age. They put together a "do you know?" scale with which to quiz the children about their families, and also measured them according to several standardized psychological tests.
What they found surprized them. The more a child knew about his or her family, the better he or she measured up. Duke's research found that common dinner table talk "encourages perspective-taking, critical thinking, theory-building, and relationship roles within the family." It also helps children "find heroes in their own family," Duke writes.
This kind of give and take can be crucial for children during times of crisis. It teaches them that "terrible things have happened but we're okay, the family survives." Miriam Weinstein writes, "So those ridiculous stories, as well as the more serious ones, might actually have some value."
Sources:
PAF - Archer files = Captain James Brown > Orson Pratt Brown > US
Photos and information as noted.
Additions, bold, [bracketed], some photos, etc., added by Lucy Brown Archer
