Don't get me wrong- just being a family and being together is an amazing experience. I love morning to night ins and outs of being a wife and mother. But I also want to ensure that we all get to spend times experiencing things that leave us with loving memories to look back on and to share with future generations. Feeling down about not getting out much as a family was a motivator for me to encourage, facilitate, and budget for fun times this summer as well as come up with the idea of having my children keep a "Summer Journal" to keep those memories.
First step- I made sure to budget a bit for each month towards a "family activity" or "special event". I also made sure to include a little more in the budget for certain months that I knew would have larger events to take place (a birthday, graduation party, our anniversary, etc). This meant cutting out a bit on a little grocery money, not paying for a TV service, and being conservative with our energy usage so we can have the extra funds. Then, using some of our tax return, we made sure to have some "at home" facilitators of fun for the days we can't get out- putting up a Walmart above ground pool, setting up a trampoline, making sure the board games were all out in the living room bookshelves, stocking the craft cupboards, and making sure the electronic entertainers were all set up for use (movies, Wii, computer games, etc).
For out of the house activity- I made sure to sign my children up for a few summer activities that they could participate in and build memories as siblings even though Mom and Dad were at work. For example: Vacation Bible School with the help of our neighbors, at least 1 field trip per month while attending the Boys and Girl's Club in our area, and a "sleepover" time for them to stay with their aunt and step cousins.
Then it was planning for certain activities that we could ALL take part in and making sure we made it a priority to set time aside in our schedule to do these things: Family reunion parties, Barbecuing with friends, camping, attending a Theme Park, and going to the movies. I also wanted to plan on a special activity that I could do with just my daughter and with just my son to give them some one on one memories too.
It doesnt seem like we're doing a LOT- but the summer is nearly half over already and it is going so fast! We aren't even near finished having a good time! In hopes that my children will be able to look back on specific details of these simple things we've done and are doing as a family- I came up with a "daily" journal for my children to input entries of their summer into:
Both of them will be able to keep little bits of memorabilia their decorated Summer 2012 folders.
Each will get to write their own thoughts, feelings, and point of view on their summer experiences by filling in notebook paper with the following tabbed subject lines: Fun Times, God Made Me GREAT, Things To Work On, and I Learned Something. The "God Made Me GREAT" and "Things To Work On" are two of my favorite 'tabs' because they give my children the opportunity to see the wonderful parts of who they are as well as see the elements of who they are that could use some improvement. I then comment on what they write so they are encouraged to continue thinking about growing as an individual.
These are some of the "God Made Me GREAT" things that my son wrote- 8 year old spelling interpret: 1. God made me smart. 2. God made me good at riding my bike. 3. God made me a good boy at reading. 4. I am good at making friends...
And these are some things that my daughter knows she needs to work on (again, spelling interpreted): 1. Listening better and not fight or argue. 2. I can work on doing my chores better. 3. Math.
I am really looking forward to looking back on these journals with my kids as they get older and going through the memories we've built as a family and seeing the lessons they've learned and grown from. I am hoping to continue this "Summer Journal" tradition as well as continue to make spending time doing some fun things as a family our priority. Life just goes too fast not to.
