3 Ways to Organize Childhood Memories (that are totally doable!)
3 Easy Ways to Organize Childhood Memories
Watching your child grow up is simply the best. Seeing them develop, accomplish new skills, gain new friends, and what they learn along the way. Worry you are going to forget the details? Overwhelmed by the thought of saving artwork and organizing the bazillions of photos?
Here are 3 systems that work well for us and are totally doable!
1. Artwork Storage Box: I use a plastic file storage box. I have one folder designated for each year. This box should serve the purpose of all preschool and elementary school. Make sure to put the date on the pictures going into the folder and the title of what it is, for example, 9-5-18 "robot butterflies." We first display artwork in the house, then after a few weeks, it either gets organized into the storage box or it gets recycled. The truth is, we all throw out our children’s art. Don’t feel bad. You cannot hold onto everything. At this point, I make the decision of what stays and what goes, and I don't involve my daughter. When she is older, she can help with the decision of letting me know if this is an important piece of art, or if it can be reused and recycled. In each folder, I make sure to save artwork from the beginning, middle and end of the year to show the progression of skills gained.
2. Pictures: This one certainly can be overwhelming. If you are like me, you have thousands of photos. I used to shudder at the thought of all the pictures I had to organize. Now I use Amazon Prime and Amazon Drive to store my photos. In prime, they organize the photos for you, either by month and year or by face recognition. It is so easy! In Drive, you can just upload the pictures in the folder of your choice. At the beginning of each year, I make one family photo book, with the best pics throughout the year. It’s super easy to go through the pictures with the way Amazon automatically stores them. I like to upload them chronologically. In addition to the family photo book, I also have a picture album for each of the kids with printed pictures of just them and their friends. It is a great activity for them to organize and insert their own photos and gives them a sense of pride and ownership.
3. Journal: This seems a bit old school, and maybe you would prefer it in a setup email system or documents online. For me, pen and paper are my preferred methods. I like to keep journals for all the in-between memories. Jotting down funny stories or sayings throughout the month. Milestones accomplished. Firsts. Parties etc. I also save parts of handmade notes or pictures given to my kids from special events and tape them into the journal, much like a scrapbook. Keeping them on my nightstand is a great reminder and every now and then I will add to it when I recall something. You can also store notes in your phone of funny things to add to the journal. I don’t spend much time on this, but they are fun to look back on. My daughter loves listening to the stories over the last few years that I have jotted down.
There you have it. 3 easy and totally doable way to save and organize your child's memories. What systems do you use?
