Making memories: How to preserve memories of childhood

Any parent will tell you that childhood seems to go by in a flash. One minute your kids are begging you to join in their game with them and the next they’re demanding privacy and retreating to their bedrooms. Watching your children grow is a privilege, but it’s important to preserve those wonderful childhood memories in as many ways as you can. Do you remember your first memory?

Children will start to make their first memories at around two to three years old, however, will have childhood amnesia, often remembering the feeling and perhaps another sense, like smell or taste instead. Of course, there will be some unforgettable childhood memories which will stay with us for life, but we often lose a lot of our fond memories as a child if it’s left to just our brains to remember. Capturing these memories immortalises those precious moments which you can share with your child again and again.

Here we’ll explore interesting ways to preserve those precious childhood moments.

Canvas prints

They’re eye-catching, effortlessly stylish and create a precious focal point in any room. Canvas prints of your happiest photographed moments are a stunning way to preserve those earliest memories and milestones. You can buy framed canvas prints or floating style designs, all available in various sizes and finishes. Canvas prints are designed to last, and you can use them to decorate and complement your home. Whether you choose to display your child’s first steps along a carefully curated gallery wall, or you want to show off their first smile above the mantelpiece, or capture the first time they ate ice cream, canvas prints are the perfect way to preserve and enjoy those precious moments.

Create an artwork portfolio

All those carefully scribbled lines, bizarrely drawn stick men and colourful blobs that are supposed to look like you usually end up stuffed in a drawer or left to overflow on the sideboard. It’s a shame that these works of art ultimately end up in the trash. However, if you’re looking to preserve those early year’s drawings to follow your child’s artistic journey, then why not gather them together and create a cute portfolio instead? Whether you keep the hard copies or scan them in and keep them digitally is up to you, but it keeps the clutter down and they’re always fun to look back on. As your child gets older you can even work on this project with them, talking through the first time they drew a dog or when they learned how to paint. They’ll love to take the trip down memory lane with you when they’re older.

Immortalise their quotes

Kids say the funniest things, don’t they? Chances are your child has said something that has left you clutching your sides with laughter or stifling your glee in a public place. Annoyingly, it’s both inevitable and incredibly frustrating when we can’t remember what they said. Immortalising their quotes by writing them down and storing them in a notebook or journal is fun and eye-opening to look back on. Or, you could consider having their wise or downright hilarious words featured on a canvas and hung with pride in your home. Reach out to hellocanvas.co.uk for more inspiration.

Your child can get involved in the projects too

Did your child do something special at school, like create a building or a fantastic drawing? Did they write an elaborate story? Get them to create a scrapbook of what happened at school and their favourite achievements do they don’t forget what they accomplished. Buy the class photos and write down the name of the people your child went to school with. They can then look back and reminisce about who they went to school with and even have the option to find them on social media if they wanted to. Also, don’t be afraid to talk about a certain childhood memory with them too, so they can build on who they are and what made them into the adults they will be in the future.

And finally, remember to preserve moments with elders

When collecting and preserving these memories of childhood, don’t forget to include your kid’s grandparents. There’s no bigger regret than failing to make and preserve any tokens of your children with your parents, as when they’re gone – the moment is missed. Whether you schedule a playdate or a day out with grandparents, or you’re having a family meal, take plenty of photos and ask them to gather mementoes of the day for you to keep and preserve in a memory box or in an album. You’ll be so glad you did. And don’t forget to talk to your children about your parents too, to keep their grandparent’s memories from childhood last a lifetime!

*Collaborative feature post*