As Time Goes By: The Mom Journal
One of the saddest things about our children growing up is that it can feel like we say goodbye to our babies a little more every year. It sounds silly, but they change so much and so quickly that you could easily forget they were ever tiny little balls of cute.
This is why you need a mom journal. A record you keep of everything they do that was special for you. Little notes, photographs, and stories that mean something to you. This journal shouldn’t have anything in it other than stories or images relating to your children.
From the moment your children are born you should start this journal. The first step should be photographing newborns and using these images to pop at the beginning of the book. A very good idea is also to consider taking a photo every month for the first six months, then every year on the same day. Take the picture in the same place so you can see how they have grown and changed over the years.
You don’t have to document every detail, but do record special moments and how you felt if you can snap a photo or take a video on your phone which you can then save on a computer. You could then download the videos on to a memory stick and slip that in with the journal.
Moments such as being born, the first time they crawled or the first time you noticed them being cheeky. Take a photo of their favorite toy and what they liked to do together! You can even write stories about special days out, such as the first time you took them to the beach.
As they grow older, you can use this journal to keep special things such as their first drawing. We keep so many drawings and paintings that our children do, but it would be very special to have the first one, or any that we find particularly special, in one place.
Writing a diary is magical, but reading a journal is even more special. The aim of this journal is to have something for yourself, to remind you on the tough days how special most of your days are, how blessed you are to have the family that you do. As your children grow into adults and have children of their own, you could give them the journal you kept. They will love reading back through it and seeing all the memories, some which they won’t remember and others which will bring back little flashes of their childhood.
We don’t get very long with our children before they leave home and become adults themselves, so it is a lovely idea to hold together their journey. It will also help reconnect you if you have had awkward teen years. If you write down the moments you were proud of them, you could help show them that you weren’t always on their case and you did think they were fabulous!
It’s not too late to start one, even if your children are older. But it is a great idea and a lovely item to hand down over the years.