I come from a family of history buffs.  Growing up, my home was filled with history books of all sorts and my father and I used to talk for hours about history. He loved American and Roman history, I was fascinated with medieval English and French history.  I grew up understanding my country's place in the time line of history along with my own place in it and on it.  Like my father, I graduated with a degree in history and when I married, I wanted my children to love history as much as I did.  I pictured us sitting up late, talking about history while sharing opinions and ideas.  I also quickly learned that a love of history doesn't come naturally to some and that I would need to present opportunities for my children to learn from and love it as much as I did.  I also asked myself whether it was really so important for my children to understand history.  

Thinking about this, I asked our eldest daughter what she remembered and learned from a family trip we took to Washington D.C. when she was a young teen.  "Well, I remember that Gettysburg is haunted and I remember Arlington Cemetery.  So many crosses."  She also remembered the Korean War memorial as one of her favorite places though she didn't know much then about the conflict itself.  Visiting the site of this memorial, with its 19 stainless steel statues of Korean War soldiers, opened up discussions about that conflict and about their Grandpa Hayes in particular who had served in the army at that time.  Until then, his grandchildren simply hadn't thought much about the fact that he was a Korean war veteran.  Later, on a visit to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, we came nose to nose with a B-17, the plane my Uncle Ken flew during WWII.  At the time of his service, my uncle was just 18 years old, a sobering thought for my eldest son who was 15 at the time of our visit.  After visiting these sites, my children had a new respect for both these men and the events they lived through.  

If nothing else then, history matters because it gives your children a view of the world and times beyond themselves.  History also gives us a vast array of characters to learn from.  Give history a chance and it will teach you and your children about every virtue, good and bad, from a colorful parade of interesting people.  Who couldn't learn about fortitude from a person such as Abraham Lincoln or Robert the Bruce? Or evil from leaders such as Stalin, Mao and Hitler?

This may be particularly true if you can personalize history for your children by connecting them with the heros and perhaps villians, within your own family.  Tell them stories about their ancestors, let them get to know them as part of their own personal family tree.  How did great-great Grandma handle her struggles in life?  Where did she come from?  What did she do for her life's work?  How am I connected to her?  If you don't know much about your family history, now is the time to start exploring!  A great place to get started is by talking to your own parents and grandparents.  Also, the LDS church has great resources for beginning your own family history search.  Visit them at LDS.org.  And don't forget your own life story.  Start writing it now!  Your children and those who follow them will cherish it.  After all, history is the story of us.  It is the glue that holds us all together.  And in the end, perhaps that really is why history does matter, however you choose to find and share it.