Keeping Busy Outside While The Kids Play

[mommamaree]

One suggestion that you might try is to simply sit back and imprint your children on your memory. Try to observe every detail about them–what they’re wearing, their hair, their skin, their smile, their eyes, their voices–every little detail.

It’s almost like you’re filming a movie–you’re recording, in your mind, your children on any given day.

So often we simply glide through the days with our young children, and then one day we wake up and we’re standing at their graduation party watching them discuss their college plans with their friends–and we realize that it’s over and we missed most of it.

That’s when that “memory imprint” is so precious. If you have a few of those in your mind, you can re-run them and remember that beautiful day and your beautiful children.

I tried to do that when my girls were little, and I have a few dozen such “imprints” in my mind–days where I remember every detail, even what they were wearing. It’s almost as if I can be back in time and present again on those days. No big special days, but just simple days when the girls were playing or nursing or chatting. So precious.

Give it a try.

Thanks, Cat!

I love to make memories consciously that way. Sometimes, I love to just watch my kids or listen to their voices. I see the sweet curve of their soft little cheeks, look at their pudgy little arms, watch as they toddle about in their own unique ways, observe how my oldest child sticks her elbows out high as she balances on her bike or how she leaps across the yard like a gazelle.

I keep getting chided by my in-laws for not taking pictures to post of Facebook or to send to them. We do get portraits made twice each year and pay for entire packages for each grandparent. We do that so that when my husband and I are in the moment with our kids, we can make those memories that last a lifetime, where we are present with our kids and not putting a camera in front of our face. So, yes, making mental recordings of our young children is an absolutely vital part of our family life and I definitely appreciate the reminder to consider THAT to be “productive” enough.

 

[Xantippe]

Thanks, Cat!

I love to make memories consciously that way. Sometimes, I love to just watch my kids or listen to their voices. I see the sweet curve of their soft little cheeks, look at their pudgy little arms, watch as they toddle about in their own unique ways, observe how my oldest child sticks her elbows out high as she balances on her bike or how she leaps across the yard like a gazelle.

I keep getting chided by my in-laws for not taking pictures to post of Facebook or to send to them. We do get portraits made twice each year and pay for entire packages for each grandparent. We do that so that when my husband and I are in the moment with our kids, we can make those memories that last a lifetime, where we are present with our kids and not putting a camera in front of our face. So, yes, making mental recordings of our young children is an absolutely vital part of our family life and I definitely appreciate the reminder to consider THAT to be “productive” enough.

Do your big kids have digital cameras? Ours have had them from an early age and they take a lot of pictures of each other (from the ideal angle!) and they often take pictures of particularly elaborate temporary projects. Every year, we do one of those Walgreen’s or Walmart photobooks as our gift for far away relatives and we use a lot of the kids’ photos. (We have had a couple of breakage incidents, but over 7 or 8 years or so, not so many.)

 

[mommamaree]

Do your big kids have digital cameras? Ours have had them from an early age and they take a lot of pictures of each other (from the ideal angle!) and they often take pictures of particularly elaborate temporary projects. Every year, we do one of those Walgreen’s or Walmart photobooks as our gift for far away relatives and we use a lot of the kids’ photos. (We have had a couple of breakage incidents, but over 7 or 8 years or so, not so many.)

No, my oldest is only 9 and is not at all interested in photography yet.

 

[twf]

Another poster mentioned audiobooks. I second that. I listen to them all the time…walking in the park, on the bus, doing menial tasks at home…your hands are free to do what you will, your eyes are free to watch the kids, but your mind is engaged.