Grow with God: Create Memories

Much of what we do as parents falls under the category "making memories." Moms and dads go to a lot of effort to provide activities and traditions, both large and small, that anchor their children--memories for them to carry throughout their lifetime.

Hopefully, most of these events are positive. We often can't help it when negative things happen in our children's lives, so we do our best to mitigate the effects. Wow, I'm getting deep.

What started all this introspection?

Recently, our scattered family gathered at a favorite vacation spot, beautiful San Diego, California. We vacationed there as a family for over 40 years.

My husband and I are in the phase of our lives where we don't have to enter the icy, seaweed-infested waters of the Pacific Ocean. Our time for boogie-boarding is history. We don't have to impress the grandchildren with our frisbee, football, paddleball, or volleyball skills--the ever-present beach activities.

We get to just sit in our lawn chairs under an umbrella. We get to watch our children interact with their children on the beach and in the water. We get to watch the ten grandchildren play in the sand and water--just like their parents did many years ago. We love it.

It occurred to me, beach play never changes. For eons, kids have been building sand castles, digging holes for the tide to fill up, burying siblings up to their heads, and "selling" pretend sand cakes to the old adults sitting in lawn chairs. It must be in their DNA because all children do the same.

Everyone was having fun, whatever activity or non-activity they were engaged in. Then it hit me how important it was that we created positive memories all those years ago. It really did have an impact on them. I remember thinking, I wonder if this is worth all the effort. Will they even remember what we're doing?

Good news is, yes, they will remember. Perhaps not all the tiny details we work so hard to orchestrate, but memories that will impact them with a sense of fun, love, belonging, and tradition. All good things.

The message is:

Parents, take heart. You're busy, tired, stressed, and over-scheduled. Some days, making memories is probably not high on your agenda. Keep at it because they will remember, and they will add it to the list of memories they create for their children. It's worth your effort.