My daughter was dedicated to this hat.  She wore it to church, to bed, everywhere. Luckily I snapped a picture I could keep and draw from later.  When my children were growing up we celebrated two holidays a month. We filled up the calender with Rock Day, Frog Day Bad Manner Day Girl’s Day, Boy’s Day, and others. I snapped three pictures at each of the several events on each of those days.  Of course I photographed daily living too.  One photo went into my book and the other two went into each of their books.

Year by year they dug into those books and remembered.  In their teens my kids remembered their way through those books with their favorite people. Things they said and did were jotted down on 3×5 cards which I just stapled in the book beside the photos as our lives got busier.

My friends with kids tell me they don’t need to have photos on paper because they store images in their cameras or computers. But do their kids reach over in quiet moments and garb the computer, put it on their laps, simply open a cover and remember?  Older kids could but they don’t.  Then a good friend of mine lost her computer so years and years are gone.

Print your pictures out in some way to be touched. Maybe print your family doing things on cheep paper and stack them on a table in a family area.  Your kids will know they’re loved and valued. We need to touch the photos, they touch back, they touch our souls.

Red Hat