Teaching Children Their Heritage

June 13 -- If you don't know your great, great-grandfather's name, chances are your children are just as clueless about their ancestry

And that leads Good Morning America's parenting contributor Ann Pleshette Murphy to her second Murphy's Law: Thou Shalt Give Them Roots.

Albert Dehart Washington III, who also goes by DD Washington, is learning from Albert Dehart Washington I, a grandfather who is wisely following Murphy's edict.

Freed Slave Gave Family Name

"My family originated in Dinwoodie County in Virginia and we can trace the family back to 1808," Washington told his grandson. "My great-great grandfather? Well, he was a slave, and he changed his name to Washington after he was freed."

Connecting with their family's past not only helps children understand where they've come from, it reinforces values and traditions that are central to a spiritual life, Murphy said. A strong family tree makes kids feel protected and proud to be who they are, as the youngest Washington said.

"Well, I'm glad to be a Washington, because everybody in my family is like, they are hard workers," said DD Washington. "The stories that my grandfather tells me, they make me feel good. Like, so I can hear how he grew up and where he lived and what he went through."

With today's technology, it is easier to connect with the past. And for kids, using a tape recorder to capture their family's memories mean their history is stored for lifetimes to come.

Taffy and Chores

For DD and his grandfather these exchanges included chats about chores, and the cost of candy.

"When you were younger what type of chores did you do and did you get paid for them?" DD asked his grandfather.

"Chores?" said the grandfather.

"Yeah," his grandson responded.

"We worked at the restaurant," he said. "We sold sodas, saltwater taffy - you got a nickel for every box of saltwater taffy you sold."

For the Washingtons, their family history is more concrete than most.

Today, Wash's Inn is run by DD's Dad, Dehart Jr., continuing a 70-year history in the family business. Like his father and grandfather did when they were teenagers, DD is getting a taste of the hard work and family recipes that have been lovingly passed down for three generations.