Last weekend we were looking after a 3 year old for the day. We drove into the city to pick something up & as we headed towards the city my husband said to the 3 year old “See those tall buildings, that’s where we’re going.” The 3 year old replied “cause they eat their vegetables.” My husband only heard the word vegetables & thought what is she talking about. I laughed and explained “because they eat their vegetables, the buildings are tall because they eat their vegetables”.
The next day my husband said it was the best child quote for a long time & was up there with “Mr Cows”. When my son was about 2 we went camping & my son fell asleep along the way. During the time he was asleep we drove past some paddocks with cows in them. When my son woke up my daughter said to him “You missed the cows”. Too which he confusedly replied “I’m not Mr Cows”.
Those years of having young children go so quickly and it is so easy to forget what they did and said. Some things are memorable like the “Mr Cows” story above and become part of the family story but other things are easy to forget.
When my children were young I started keeping a book with one thing about each child for the day. I recorded something that they did or said that day. A bit like a sentence a day journal. I just used an ordinary school exercise book. As I started it after my son was born I wrote memories in the back that I could still remember at the time or that came to me later. I wrote in this notebook until they were both at school but then it slowly, petered out.
This is just one idea of how you can record some memories of your children to look back on. Photos of course can also tell a story.
How do you record memories of your children?