Preserve the Memories Your Kids Will Want to Remember

So much of life with small children is making memories and preserving them. Making sure they remember all the fun and amazing times you have as a family. Keeping your camera ready for the perfect photo of little Ava in the pumpkin patch that will adorn the lock screen on your phone and garner your social media accounts. It will get multiple likes and loves, and comments will come pouring in about what a beautiful, well-behaved child you have.

Little do the adoring followers know, three minutes later, Ava threw her pumpkin at an unsuspecting bystander, laid down on the ground, dirtying her adorable dress, snatched the bow out of her hair, and threw a tantrum because her pumpkin was too orange. You try not to laugh at the absurdity of this entire moment and take one quick photo because you know one day you will tell her this story and she won’t remember. And after you recover from the embarrassment, which could take a few years, you will all laugh so hard that your stomach hurts.

But that picture of Ava face down in the dirt amongst the pumpkins will never hit social media. We don’t like to put our tantrums and spilled drinks and mismatched clothing on the internet. Those don’t look good on your Instagram grid. We only want to post pictures of our children smiling in matching seersucker while standing perfectly in front of the blooming hydrangeas. Or of them holding their participation trophy from a soccer season where they spent the majority of the games sitting in the middle of the field while the other four-year-old’s ran around them.

Aren’t some of our best family memories shaped from the moments that made us cringe a little? Like that time, you took the kids to the indoor play place full of tunnels of slides and rope climbing. It was so much fun for the kids as you waved at them from the safety of the solid ground. Only to hear your five-year-old yell that your youngest just upchucked in tunnel #17 and refuses to move unless you come get them. So, you somehow shimmy your body through tunnels #1-16, which were not made for anyone over seven, up a rope ladder, down a slide that smells like urine, and into the horror of tunnel #17. You attempt a quick cleanup with the napkins you shoved in your pocket and yell that you are sorry to the teenager on their way with the sawdust concoction they used in your elementary school. Your youngest clings to your back like a tiny marsupial as you attempt to make it through tunnels #18-47, down six more slides, and through a ball pit. You emerge victorious, sweating, smelling like vomit, with a tiny body clinging to your back. Your husband was poised and ready at the finish line with the camera so you could never forget this moment. Priceless. A few years later, at least.

Remember that not all memories are Instagram perfect. Sometimes they are full of tantrums, mistakes, some possible swearing, and stress sweat. Your babies won’t stay small forever, so treasure the moments that will make the entire family laugh one day.

Bio

Jamie is a full time working mom with two little boys, Henry and Simon. She writes about real life and real life gets messy. Contributor for Motherly, HuffPost Parents, Scary Mommy, Today Parents, Love What Matters and Her View From Home.