How to Make a Childhood Memorable*

It’s a scary though knowing that our every day lives are having a massive impact on shaping our children’s future. One minute they’re babies in our arms, the next we’re looking into how to choose a childcare centre as we start sending them out into the world.

Whilst seemingly forgettable moments mean little to us, our children might hang on to these experiences forever, so it is so important for us as parents to try to promote positive memories for our children.

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Dinner Time
Sitting down a couple of times a week to eat together is a great way to bond as a family, providing there is a ban on mobile phones. It gives a chance for everyone to catch up as a group, which is often lacking within the modern family set up.

As everyone is all together in one place, it makes sense to share important announcements for meal time. You can also use this time to get family members to verbalise daily-stresses and problems. Getting this information out in the open often acts as a release and knowing that your family is all there for you will improve the bonds between everyone.

There are also health benefits to eating as a family. Did you know that children who eat family meals are more likely to eat healthier foods and be a healthy weight?

To make dinner time more interesting try cooking new recipes, having the family help with cooking or baking treats for dessert, or even trying themed dinner nights on special occasions.

Birthday Traditions
Another fantastic way to build great childhood memories is to have strong birthday traditions that last. When my children go to bed the night before we decorate their doorway and landing with buntings and balloons, so it is the first thing they see when the go out the door. We also leave them in charge! Letting them pick breakfast, dinner and cake for the entire day! Even the little ones get to decide what we all eat. It’s a great way of improving their confidence and decision making – they might make a few dodgy choices at first, but soon they’ll start to consider others with their choices.

In terms of presents, there’s always a fad which my kids are into at the time, but this is normally out of fashion within a month. Instead I try to opt for something unique. Having something that has been specially made is more likely to be memorable, and to last. I use customgifts.co.uk as all their gifts are personalised and unique. I also tend to buy all my children a small gift on one of their birthdays. This way they all get excited as excited for everyone’s birthday, reinforcing the family bond.

Annual Adventure
I’m going to be honest, our annual holiday is as much a treat for me as it is for my family, but it wasn’t always like that. The tantrums, logistics, and just the shear number of choices you must make to plan your holiday might be enough to put some off – but please don’t let it. Life is a series of events, and whilst you might not get to do everything you want in a single trip, there will always be another holiday to go on, so plan away!

All-inclusive resorts are nice for a relaxing time, but you’ll find the experience all blur into one, so try planning fun, unique holidays and see how your family get on. We love going on road trips, staying at camp sites and visiting lots of places in a single trip.

Whilst you are on holiday, we create mini-traditions that also help reinforce the traditions. I love buying a fridge magnet from every place we visit, but any keepsake will do. I’d also recommend eating the local cuisine, trying the local drink (parent’s only) and taking loads of photos.

New Traditions
How can doing the same thing all the time be memorable? The best way to truly create lasting memories is to try new things all the time. Trying new things also requires courage and forces us to grow. I love using new traditions as fun stepping stones to build my children’s confidence so that their next school play isn’t such a daunting experience, this is known as growth mindset and is an incredibly important part of a child’s development. The best benefit of trying new things though, is that we may find things we really enjoy doing!

There’s no end to the types of activities we can do together as a family:

Get everyone involved with dinner night by having everyone help cook a new recipe or bake a new dessert.
Go on a family walk or bike ride.
Try volunteering at the local charity shop or food bank.
Go to the park to play catch or frisbee.
Go food shopping as a family and everyone pick one new food item.
Create a time capsule and bury it in the garden.
Most traditions can be inexpensive are a great way to bond as a family.