Have we forgotten how to remember?

Maybe I’m showing my age, but is there anything better than stumbling on an old photo album, scrapbook or diary at the back of a cupboard and having a nostalgic look through the memories?  Actually, in my opinion there is something better – sharing those memories with your children.

I came across a collection of photos from my backpacking days recently – the best year of my life but unbelievably now nearly a quarter of a century ago (how did that happen?!).  It was a total joy to look through them and to share them with my daughter, who’s about to set off on her own travels later this year.  Even if she was very rude about my knees…

I couldn’t help but wonder if she’ll have a similar collection of photos to look back on with her children when they’re about to start their own adventures. Maybe by that time she’ll be projecting online photo albums into the air just by blinking…. but will it be the same as flipping through pages of photos together, even if they’re a little bit blurred and dog-eared?

I love our phones, tablet and laptop; I’d be miserable without them.  I adore reading blogs, shopping online and keeping up with friends and family on social media.  But there’s no hiding from the downsides of the digital world, especially for young adults.  Is one of them that our teens are losing out on storing memories? If so, it’s an easy problem to solve!  Why not suggest:

• A memory list. Suggest they use a notebook or small artist’s sketchbook to write a list of your memories as they create them. Perfect for teenage milestone moments and something that will be fantastic to look back on.
• A good old-fashioned scrapbook. It’s so satisfying to arrange and stick everything and anything on to a page, especially if you add notes of what, where and why.

• A memory box. If time (or creativity!) is short, encourage them just to pop tickets, special birthday cards, programmes, photos and other mementos in a box.  Even if they don’t get sorted out for decades, they’re still there to look back on!
• A diary. There’s simply nothing better than reading back through a diary, especially if it was written ‘in code’ in those teenage years. Louise looked out one written when she was about fifteen and is still laughing about (and puzzling out) entries like:

• A memory playlist. Not one on their phones, but a special book where they write down a song lyric that means something to them, together with when and why.  Something that will transport them back to their teenage years in later life…

We’d LOVE to hear what you think.  How do you encourage your kids to store their memories?

Louise & Anna x