Creating Memories, II

Continuing in our conversation on creating memories… intro here, my own childhood memories here, fun quotes here… Now I will share with you some specific things (both activities/events and overall penetrating themes) which I hope, pray, endeavor, and work toward my own children embracing now and remembering as time goes on, and in a couple of days I will expand each of these areas to share about the hows (and maybe the whys) behind them. Remember to share in the comments (or link to your blog) if there are specifics that you want your own kids to remember as they someday look back upon their childhoods as well ~ I would love to exchange ideas with you!

CREATING MEMORIES, II
specifics I want my kids to remember

~bedtime serenades~
In the evenings, after tucking them in, kissing them, praying for them, and blessing them, I scoot myself over to the piano. I play for roughly thirty minutes, and the children love falling asleep in the midst of it.
Recently, they have begun requesting harp in addition to piano. Sometimes I play one instrument per night, other times I play a little of each.

~joy at the table~
We need to keep working on this one. 🙂 I long for my children to look back at mealtimes not just as opportunities to fill our mouths and bellies with food, but to love one another and spend time with one another… especially the dinner table where all of us sit down together.

~love of learning, delight in playing, embracing of all we call neighbor~
Especially as a homeschooling family, but regardless of it just the same, we seek to daily inculcate a love of curiosity and creativity and learning.
We encourage a delight in playing, especially playing together.
We also seek to embrace our neighbor in these things, especially as learning and playing coincide.

~Sabbath as a joy & monument, Christ everyday & in our everyday~
Have you ever read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Farmer Boy” and been taken aback at the description of Sundays? As I recall, it’s the same in “Little House in the Big Woods,” and I don’t think the legalism and harsh realities of what “Sabbath” meant to people is really very far-fetched for most of us. But my boys, who are old enough to pick up on the nuances of these details we read about, find it absolutely unimaginable. They love Sundays!

~weekly family fun night~
Part of our merrymaking on the Lord’s Day is how we wrap up the day with family fun night!

~music~
As a musical person myself, I have sought to teach my kids about music and singing from the womb. I have grand visions of incorporating music and singing into every meal, like a regular liturgy. 🙂
It would be an enormous blessing (and honestly a huge success in my eyes) if my children were to look back on their childhoods as being regularly seasoned with music.

~words~
Our children love singing, reading, writing, (oh do they ever!) talking. I hope our children remember words in their childhoods being seasoned with grace.

~laughter~
I want my children to remember their childhoods as filled with laughter.

~forgiveness~
I suppose above all else, even above joy itself, is that I want my children to remember their home as a place where forgiveness was both sought and given wholeheartedly.