A dad I know recently commented on the things he was doing to record that growth for posterity, and for sharing in the future with his daughter his memories of her youngest years. That conversation started a process for me of coming up with ideas for making sure that the growth and progress of children in our families is effectively recorded.
Portraits and Pictures.
Keeping a visual record of the growth of children has been important since the invention of the camera. But making sure you capture the images regularly and at the right moments can be a challenge, even with the best of intentions. So here are a number of thoughts and tips that might be helpful.Video Recordings. Now we all know the obnoxious fathers that take video recording to extremes. They can be annoying as they catalog for posterity every cute smile, every whimper and every slide down a slide at the park. Without going to such lengths that cause passersby to snicker under their breath, dads can still create good video records of their children at various stages of life.
- Repeat events at different stages. One dad I know has recorded his daughter every year on her birthday singing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” He reports that at her first birthday, she was a little timid and unsure, but by the third birthday, she was belting it out like an American Idol contestant. I thought that was a great idea that really chronicled her growth.
- Select memorable events. Our About Desktop Video Guide Gretchen Siegchrist, has some wonderful and creative ideas about selecting events which tend to make great family videos. I never thought about recording a cooking experience with the kids, but it sounds like a great idea, especially for the younger ones.
- Edit your videos on your PC. Gretchen also has some great software reviews and tips for editing those home videos—adding transitions, music, subtitles, and more.
Albums and Scrapbooks. For many years, a favorite activity with each child on their birthday has been reviewing their baby book with pictures and mementos from when they were born. Even our 14 year old, who had a birthday last week, looked forward to that time with mom and dad. So consider taking some of those photos and putting them in a photo album or scrapbook. Our About Scrapbooking Guide Rebecca Ludens has some really fun scrapbook page ideas for dads and their children to get you started.
Photo Boxes. Another fun ideas with the pictures of your child as she grows is to do a memory frame or photo box for each year of her life. Then display them on the wall of the family room. You can even take the frame from last year and display it in your office.
The Written Record.
While many dads have experimented with, or even mastered, the digital camera or video camera, we may have neglected the written word. Here are a few thoughts about recording the growth of your children in writing.Baby books. I mentioned this earlier, but adding written observations to your child's baby book can be a meaningful part of their growing up. For example, I received a very thoughtful personal letter from my boss at work when my first child was born, which I placed in his baby book. I also included some of my thoughts and observations of what was going on in his life. Other dads I know took some regular monthly time to write advice or to record their feelings about fatherhood during that first year of their child's life.
Journals. A journal is a fun thing to do with your children. Ours started when they were old enough to talk. Every Sunday, either mom or dad sat down with each child individually and asked them about their week. We would record their ramblings verbatim and then asked them to write their name or draw a picture about something that happened that week. It was a lot of fun, and created a vibrant record of their life at each stage.
Calendars. Another family I know keeps a detailed calendar of what happens and what their children are doing each month. This is a pretty easy and painless process since it just superimposes over their family calendar. They have a large month by month calendar with lots of space for each day, so they jot down, in addition to their schedule, what the kids are doing and experiencing in the blank spaces. Then the calendar is stored in a box by year, wrapped around photos and other keepsakes from that month.
Keeping a height wall. At each house where we have lived, we had a height wall where every few months, we would stand each child up against the wall and mark their height with a pencil mark, showing their name and the date. This has been a really fun visual reminder of how much and how fast they have grown physically.
