Have you ever thought about making a journal to each one of your kids and your husband? In 2006, I started a journal for each person in my family. So I have had these journals now for ten years. My kids are 16 and 14 now. They know about them, but they don’t know what I write in them. My intention was to write special memories, things I wanted them to know when they’re all grown up, and little life lessons that might slip through the cracks. At the time I started the journals, I was having some trouble with my thyroid. I just started thinking what an amazing thing it would be to have a record for each family member if something ever happened to me unexpectedly. Then it became a thing I just kept up with.
Obviously, I don’t write in them every day or even every week. Sometimes I’m really bad with it and then sometimes I will keep at it for a while. You will notice that some of the time the journals are all taken out and written in on the same day. Whatever works for you and gets it done. I keep them by my bedside table so when I think of something I want to write then they’re accessible.
My son’s journal started to come unraveled and I wanted to transfer his to a new journal before the whole thing fell apart. When I started rewriting his into the new journal I reread some of the memories. Like how my father in law taught him to ride a bike, that he could swim at 3, and make a ten foot basket at four. Some really cool things that were really neat to read back and remember. I think I will give my daughter hers on her wedding day and my son when he graduates from college. If you haven’t done something like this yet you might want to think about doing this or whatever works for your family. It literally takes 2-3 minutes to jot down a couple sentences in a journal. You would be amazed at how little a time commitment it takes and how amazing the outcome will be.
My daughter has had a lot going on in her junior year so lots of things have been in her journal lately. I expect to be writing a lot in her journal senior year as well. I can’t believe she will be a senior in 17 days. I will have all high school aged children next year. Where has the time gone? I hope some of you reading this will think about this idea and you will start your own journals for your kids soon.
Yours Truly,
Jenn
