What Do I Want Them to Remember?

Lately this is the question that I’ve been dwelling on. My oldest is getting ready to turn 14 and I can barely believe it. Her childhood has just flown by!

All of my kids are growing up so quickly! I have found myself thinking more and more about how short my time with them living at home really is.

18 years sounds like such a long time when they are born but before you know it they are in kindergarten then you blink and they are heading into high school!

It is so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day running of our home. I’m pretty busy homeschooling 5 of my 7 kids. We don’t have a housekeeper and my husband works 9-hour days and commutes an hour each way.

That means I also try to keep up on the cooking and cleaning so when he is home, he’s able to spend quality time with all of us.

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in making sure the cooking, cleaning, homeschooling, etc. are all getting done that I sometimes forget to slow down and really enjoy life with my kids.

Yes, I want them to remember that at home we had a clean home and great food, but I want them to look back with memories of us reading books together, playing board and card games, spending time outside together, etc. too.

I want them to remember the times I just did something sporadic with them, like announcing we’d have ice cream for lunch or dinner, or canceling a school day to spend the day at the nature preserve instead.

I want them to remember me making fresh chocolate chip cookies, on a Tuesday, just because. You get what I mean, right?

Because I often find that I need to remind myself of this, this is my friendly reminder to you too. If you also get caught up in just checking off the boxes of what needs to be done on a day to day basis, remember to take some time to think, “what do I want them to remember” and then do it!

You won’t regret it!