A Good Idea for Parents

A while ago, my former Young Women's president, now my good friend, Anne, told me about something that she does for each of her kids.  She keeps a journal for each one and records stories just about them, so that when they're older that they can go back and catch a glimpse their childhood.

Of course, the most ideal way to capture a kid's quirks is video, but we always seems to miss the good stuff. 

So I think this is an incredible idea.  Even though I've recorded many stories about Chaela on this blog, it's definitely not the same as having a slightly more private collection specifically about her.  Tonight I finally started it; I covered what I could remember about her first year and then recorded her most recent escapade (the naked wake-up call). 

I have to say, I feel really good about this.  She's such a funny kid that it should be a pretty good read 16 years from now.  My plan is to keep it up through her teenage years, then print it out and bind it when she turns 18.  Even if I don't manage to do it religiously for that long, I want to at least record her early childhood.  And since it's on the computer, it's also easy to add pictures.  Nice.

I've started one for Joci, too, because she'll be here pretty soon.  I don't have any stories about her yet, but I started with my pregnancy to this point and my thoughts and feelings about having a second little girl.

Anyway, I wanted to share this because so many of my friends are parents with young children.  I know a lot of us already write in our own journals, but often times there may be things in there we may not want to share with them until they're older.  This way I can let the kids look at their "books" whenever they want.

I think every parent should do something like this for their kids if they can.  I mean, baby books are great, but all they record are facts; this is a way to capture personality.  Thanks so much for the idea, Anne!