German heritage runs deep in my family. My husband’s ancestry is largely German, and my great-grandparents from my father’s side are from Germany. Both my husband and I have German surnames as well. You’d think that with this much history, our daughter would be more well versed in her heritage; but the truth is that the only thing I’ve mentioned to her on the subject is, “Stop walking like that—people frown on Germans who goosestep!”

Seriously, though, she’s only three, so it’s not like she needs a complete history lesson; but to be honest, we really don’t know that much about our heritage. Neither of us speak German, we’ve never been to Germany, and when we both wrinkle our noses at sauerkraut my dad is always shocked.

So I’m thinking that we need to learn more—if not because we’re interested (we are), then so we can teach our little girl about where she came from, especially if she asks. I certainly don’t want to have a “duh” expression on my face as I tempt to explain things I know not much about.

So here are a few things we’re doing for German-American History Month. Feel free to do some of them with your own family, or add your own to share with others.

• Visit a German town. We live near quite a few of them; my father is from one, and his grandparents are buried there. My husband’s great-great grandfather (okay, probably several other “greats” but we don’t know how many) founded another.
• Make or eat a German meal. German cake is actually my favorite and we’re making that for our daughter’s birthday this month, but we’ll also either try a dish in the town we visit or attempt to create our own. I’m really no fan of bratwurst (though my husband is), but I’m willing to try some German noodles. (Actually, after looking at these foods, it seems that my mother made quite a few German dishes while we were growing up…)
• Learn a few German words and phrases. I actually bought a German dictionary and language program on cassette tape (cassette tape!) a few years ago but I can’t seem to find it. I think this time around we’ll go to the library and see what we can find.
• Visit the Holocaust Museum in St. Louis. It’s been on my Living To Do List since I was a teenager, and while my great-grandparents left before World War II really broke out, I still think it’s an important thing to learn about.