Building Childhood Memories
I am pleased to share this guest post by Dana Hanley. Dana writes about faith, family, and particularly education at Principled Discovery. I encourage you to subscribe to her posts. They are always thought-provoking.
We have been listening to “On the Banks of Plum Creek” by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It is amazing to listen to her account of her childhood. Her family had so little…a rag doll and some paper dolls Ma had cut out of old papers were prized treasures. And yet they were so joyful.
Laura’s description of evenings of laughter and dance while Pa played his fiddle evoke a sense of longing for a simpler life in a simpler time. Her tales of running along the creek, chasing fish and pestering crabs cause the reader to pause and reflect on one’s own childhood.
Despite living in conditions most of us today would consider “hardship,” Laura provides such a vivid and loving account of her childhood that over 100 years later we can laugh at the antics of this little brown-haired girl of the frontier. Hours in front of the television watching the latest movie and playing the latest video game will hardly make such a lasting impression on this and future generations.
What memories will our children have?
I’m hoping mine will remember my husband taking time to read to them from “The Bible Story” by Maxwell before going to bed when he returns from a trip. And the post cards he sends them, and the letters they write to include in his lunch box.
I hope they remember breaking open the honeysuckles to get to the sweet nectar inside, and gathering wild plums by the creek north of town.
I hope they remember hiking down the creek at the dog run, balancing across the tree that fell over it, and the time that we all fell in and had to get in the car wet and muddy.
I hope they remember praying and talking and reading about God.
I hope my daughter remembers her excitement at her first “real” Bible.
I hope they remember popping popcorn and mixing it with M&Ms for an occasional family movie.
I hope they will someday sit in front of the fireplace with their grandchildren and have one or two tales from their childhood to share. Maybe even a few that their grandchildren request to hear again and again at every family gathering.
Storytelling seems to be a lost art in our current generation, but maybe that is because children have so little time to build memories worthy of repeating. Perhaps our children need more time when the most interesting thing to do is aggravate an old crab on the banks of Plum Creek.
Published in The Gift Of Family Writing by Jill Novak.
Huge amen! We’re reading “Little House in the Big Woods” and part of me wishes I lived back then, all the hard work and all. I hope to give my kids good memories of growing up. They won’t remember the TV shows! Interesting how many of those good memories revolve around being outdoors…
I have that book and was just reading this lovely article last week. Well done Dana! Very inspiring. Thanks for posting this Renae.
Oh Dana – this is beautiful! I love the Little House books! Our favorite is ‘Farmer Boy’ – we read it about three years ago and we still have friday night popcorn and apple cider nights during the winter!
How easy it is to get caught up in today’s fast-paced world. I long for these simpler times in my life and in the life of my children. I have always dreamed of being a pioneer – if only I had the basic know how! ( :
Love,
Mandi
This was a thought provoking post. One of the factors that finally opened my eyes to the need for me to leave work and stay home with my kids was my oldest telling me that one of her predominant memories of Christmas was me being at work all the time. Simpler is better, I truly believe that.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the post! I just can’t imagine such fond and beautiful memories written by children raised in a sort of “virtual” reality. Not that you can’t have good memories with that…I have some from when my dad was a video game repairman and I got to go in the shop with him on Saturdays to play the games. But it isn’t the games I remember.
I love this post. Some of my fondest memories of those of nature, family, and simple inactivity. Just simple picnics and laughter. Jumping on rocks in the creek. Hunting up the kittens in the barn. I think one of the best gifts we can give our children is the gift of exploration.
Nice to meet you! Thanks for stopping by my blog & commenting Renae. I added you to my blogroll. :)
Great post, Dana. Inspires us on to better things (and lesser things). :-)
I was just talking about this the other day with a friend. We both agreed that we didn’t remember the gifts our grandparents gave us as much as the memories the made with us.
Thanks, for the thoughtful post Dana.
and
Renae, you really made my day by stopping by the other day and sharing “tha moment” with me. It did turn out beautiful but now I am playing catch up with the house. : ) Hubby said this morning, “There is no blog design going on this week so things will get back to normal right?” : )
Thanks for contributing this post to the CM Blog Carnival.
Grace & Peace,
MomToCherubs
Oh what a lovely post…FOOD for mommy thought. :)
I think about this too. Wanting my kids to experience and remember more about family than I ever did. Nice post!
Thank you for the gentle reminder that our children’s memories are made today.
Making memories…
that’s the best!
Usually, that happens when we slow down and be calm and just enjoy each other and our surroundings.
Beautiful. I have many of the same hopes. It’s so easy to get caught up in the distractions of all our “conveniences”, but miss out on the real memory-making fun. It’s something I’m working on, too. I guess it’s a matter of priorities, and making the most of our time. :-)
Beautiful post!! Very thought provoking in the best kind of way!! =o)–Be Blessed, Angie in GA