When you have children, it can feel like time moves fast and slow. The days are long but the years are short. Before we know it, our families are all grown up. It is one of those things that we don’t realise at the time, when we are navigating a sea of sleepless nights and endless chatter. When things seem hard work and time is moving at a slow pace. The truth is, before we know it, those periods have passed and while it can be hard to embrace them at the time, it is certainly worth reminding ourselves of it every now and again.
The one thing we should try and do as much as possible is to embrace the times where we can make memories with our family. It’s also important to capture the memories that you make, from small milestones to big family events. These are the things you will look back on in years to come. However, many of us can be guilty of letting these times pass us by and often regretting that we didn’t catch a photo our snap of the smiles and fun that was had. With that in mind, here are some of the best ways you can capture your family memories.
Have experiences to make the memories
First of all the best piece of advice is to make sure you have experiences worth capturing. Of course, there is a lot to be said for capturing the ordinary moments, but a good mix of the two will be a lovely reminder of your life in years to come. You will want to remember the good and the great. The mundane and the excitement. You want to be able to showcase your life. So whether it is a birthday that you want to capture, the first steps or cheeky noises that your baby makes, right down to the holidays and days out that you plan meticulously, make every moment a memory worth capturing. You won’t regret embrace your days.
Scrapbook
If you love to be creative, then perhaps you should consider a scrapbook and collect memories along the way. You could look at putting in them pictures and snaps of the day or time you want to remember, along with memorabilia such as a leaflet, a napkin or anything that will remind you of the time and fun you had an experienced. These are great to do with children as well, so don’t be shy about getting them involved. They will love to look back on them in years to come.
Keep a diary
If you enjoy writing things down, then get into the habit of keeping a journal. Writing down the memories will be a lovely thing to read back. You will be able to capture first words, funny phrases and events. Some of the things that can easily get forgotten over time. There are some great planners and journals out there that are designed for things like this. Things such as a one line day book right through to you noting down three memorable things about the day itself. It can also be a great way to practice gratitude.
Photographs
A real obvious way of capturing your family memories is through the art of photography. There are a couple of ways you can do that. Firstly, you could consider taking the photographs yourself. You don’t have to be a professional photographer to capture some great snaps. By investing in a good camera, you could get some amazing quality pictures that you will treasure. However, not all of us are confident in front of the camera and prefer to stay behind it than in front of it. This might be because of broken teeth or feeling a little insecure with how you look. Make some changes to feel better about yourself or just embrace the fact that your family loves you. You will want to see evidence of yourself when you are looking back at these pictures in years to come. Another way would be to have a professional take some family portraits. This could be something you do each year. Giving you a full catalogue of how your family has changed over the years.
Family videos
A step up from photographs would be to create family videos. This could be of your holidays, birthdays and milestones. Or you could decide to do weekly and monthly videos of your life. A popular way to capture your family life and with technology advancing all the time you don’t need to be a fantastic editor to create a nice video. You could even upload them to sites like YouTube so the rest of your family can keep up with your lives. Many people do this and it can be a lovely thing to look back on with your children and a real snapshot of the time in your life that we can often forget, especially the ordinary moments like the school run or meal times.
Create family traditions
Another fabulous way to capture memories and also create them in the first place is to create family traditions. At Christmas time, you may embrace the elf on the shelf, do a family advent or decorate a christmas tree together. On birthdays you may allow that person to choose everything you do that day from the places you go to the food you eat. Valentines, Mother's and Father’s Day, there are so many ways you can create traditions that are unique to your family, and then capturing them to look back on. These are the things that will be talked about the most in years to come.
Capture milestones
The last way you could capture your family memories is in celebrating the milestones. The loss of baby teeth and first haircuts could all be remembered by keeping a tooth and a lock of hair. Perhaps creating a height chart in your home so you can see the difference in height as your children get older.
Let’s hope these ideas provide you with some inspiration to begin capturing your families memories. Before you know it, your children will have grown up and you will wonder where the time has gone.
*contributed post*
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