A Word to New Parents: Be Sure To Write About Your Kids

This is a cute baby journal, available at Anthropologie.

One of the biggest regrets I have is that I didn’t spend more time writing about my kids, the funny things they say, and the funny things they do. I wish I had written about all the cuteness and kept it all contained in one spot, so I could go back and read it over and over again. It’s one of those things you will do in life that will make you smile and chuckle. I’ve written some of my funny stories about my kids here on the blog and entitled them Conversations with my Daughter and Conversations with my Kids, so at least I did write down a few of them.

Keeping a journal about your kids is something that will prove to be invaluable; it is a keepsake that is irreplaceable. While pictures are lovely, you will want to write down stories, thoughts, things they say, how proud you felt, (how proud they felt), and other commentary that you will always want to remember. It’s a place to keep stories you will want to retell, perhaps much later in life at a college graduation or wedding.

Zinsser’s Book: On Writing Well…very helpful.

William Zinsser in his book about writing talks about a memoir his father wrote and distributed to about 20 members of his family. The memoir was heartfelt and written in his father’s own voice, which Zinsser said made it even more special; as he read it after his father passed, he could still “hear” his voice through the words he had written. Additionally, the memoir was not written to be published; it was written as a keepsake, so that the family would have memories that could be passed down from generation to generation.

This is why you will want to write your stories down. Most of you are not writing with the intent to publish these pieces, but rather writing to share stories with your family as the years roll by, so that you can remember and recall them vividly.

My Quotable Kid…another type of journaldown.

As I sit here now writing this to you, I am thinking about my many Facebook friends–lots of the them former students who have married and are starting the next phases of their lives with marriages and new babies. To those of you who are new parents, do yourself a favor and begin to write. To those of you with older children, it’s not too late.

Get a journal, and write the story of your life.