Forget Me Not; A Scrapbook For The Kids To Mark The Big Events In Life. In our ever changing, ever evolving technological world, gone are the days of new baby books, journals and wedding albums. These have seemingly been replaced by apps, online clouds and other mobile devices that collate content for you. A virtual scrapbook if you will. The advantages of this are obvious, but the disadvantages aren’t as clear. Do you remember the enjoyment of building out memory books and scrapbooks? Lets not forget about the satisfaction you get when you find it 10 years later? Are we forgetting the bonding that can be had between a child and parent when putting it together and later looking through it? Perhaps so, if you’ve got young children stop placing so much value on your mobile phone and give the below a go instead.
There are an endless number of meaningful events in a child’s life. First words, learning to walk, learning to ride a bike or them simply learning to write their name for the first time. The list goes on and on. These milestones however are more for the parent, rather than the child. Events such as moving house, starting primary school and becoming a brother or sister for the first time have a pretty huge impact on a child’s life.
Moving House
If you asked most people who have moved house at some stage in their life they’ll probably tell you that it is one of the most stressful events you’ll ever experience. In fact, studies have shown that a large majority of people feel that moving house is one of the most stressful life events. More stressful than divorce or having a baby. Children however see moving in a completely different light; some might be frightened and worried at the prospect of moving away from their friends. Some might be over the moon with excitement.
Reduce the stress
Most of the time it’s the former rather than the latter. Moving house creates havoc and upheaval and that can be a really scary experience for a child. But it doesn’t have to be that way; helping them to scrap book their experience of moving house can help them to get excited. Let them forget about their insecurities and most importantly, help them to remember their old house and the memories than came with it. If they’re already excited about the move, that’s great. Definitely something you want them to bottle for later on in life. Don’t forget to get photos of their bedroom before everything gets packed up, peel off wallpaper samples. Encourage them to document how they feel about their new home and how they feel on moving day.
Starting School
Starting school can often be a daunting experience for children, I certainly remember is that way anyway, but that’s about all I remember. Encouraging your children to use a scrap book to document their first day of school is a great way to defuse that daunting feeling. Get them to take a ‘selfie’ of them in their new school uniform. Get them to document their first school dinner and stick in their first name badge from their first day (we all remember those!). You can prompt responses from them by placing questions in the scrapbook for them to answer. Who is their favourite teacher and what games did they play at lunchtime.
Becoming A Brother Or Sister
Most people would agree that the prospect of gaining a sibling for the first time is a massively exciting time. That is until they actually arrive and start taking all the attention away from their older sibling(s)! It’s a great idea to try and capture that excitement before it turns into eye gouging and hair pulling. Things to include here are the first item they’ve gifted their future sibling with, drawings they’ve done for their new sibling. Photos of them painting the nursery and of course, a photo of them meeting their brother or sister for the first time.
Essential Tools For Constructing The Perfect Scrap Book
- Polaroid Camera – An essential tool for scrap booking, instant photos are so much better than photos on Instagram you’ll surely agree.
- Colourful Pens – The more glittery and bright the better! Colourful pens can open them up to being creative with colours based on how they are feeling.
- Stickers – These can aid your child to express how they are feeling about a certain experience. Stickers of different facial expressions, animals and objects are a good start.
- Memorabilia – If it’ll fit in a scrapbook, keep it. Receipts, hand-drawn pictures, written notes, tickets and labels are all perfect for pasting into a scrapbook.
The most important part of getting your kids excited about a scrapbook is making it a family experience. Of course you should give them the freedom to put things in their scrapbook themselves. Try to come together to look through it often and for events you’ve experienced as a family, document them as a family.
