If I asked you how many times a sense of failure as a Mom has waved over you at the end of a long day after your kiddos are asleep, would you be able to tell me?
If you asked me, I couldn’t count not only the amount of times I’ve felt like this, but I couldn’t even tell you the magnitude of factors that actually make me feel like Iām failing my kids to begin with!
If it’s not because our home isn’t cute, and neat all the time, it’s because they ate chicken nuggets for lunch. If it’s not because I can’t afford extra-curricular activities, it’s because I can’t get them a toy jeep like they’d love to have. If it’s not because we can’t make extravagantly fun trips, it’s going to be because of something else.
The idea is that there is always something making me feel like I’m failing my kids!
And then I worry about them growing up dwelling on the things they missed out on because of what I couldn’t give them or do for them!
Multiple times, while having my doubts on whether the energy I invested worrying about this was worth it, I would go ahead and survey quite a few people, asking them to share their best memories of with their Mom or of their childhood. I would ask these things out of genuine curiosity of finding out what exactly it is that I have to be cultivating in order for my children to remember the best of times they had while they were with me.
Not one single person has ever mentioned whether they had a nice home or the cleanest one, nor has anyone ever mentioned it being enrolled in the most prestigious of schools or activities. No one talks about having had the best toys, devices or latest trends, nor having gotten to do/have whatever every other kid did/had.
The responses I did get from these people were a huge wake up call. I literally started listing all the simple, free things I could do with my toddlers that would bestow the ultimate impact on their lives and their overall lasting impression on me as their parent as well as on the time they lived in my home.
The following examples resulted from the feedback I received from grown ups who remembered these things as their favorite and happiest childhood memories as well as interactive ideas that have come from my own findings and personal experiences.
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Without further ado then, here are just 25 of endless ways to make a massive quality impact on the memories your child will have of you!
Eat fruit together in bed or on the couch
Play with them at the park
Talking in the kitchen
Bake together
Dates to anywhere with just one individual child at a time
Sing to your favorite song with a wooden spoon
Make blanket forts with them
Read multiple bedtime stories with library books
Make mud pies and decorate them with flowers and grass
Hold your child on your lap while telling them a story
Draw with them
Live near an airport? Sit somewhere nearby to watch planes take off and land
Do yard work together
Take a walk around your neighborhood
Blow bubbles
Free play such as blocks, legos, stuffed animals, etc.
Backyard camping
Living room sleep over
Dance party
Exercise together
Picnic somewhere
Pillow fight
Tag
Hide n’ seek
Dramatic play (house, beach vacay, coffee shop, restaurant, etc.)
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Final Thoughts
If you take yourself back to your own childhood, what are your best memories with your parent? Or, on the other hand, what would you have wished of your parents that you didn’t have?
Go from there. Nurture in your home what you embrace from your childhood. If you didn’t have the ideal childhood or that loving Mom, then now you know how to approach your own parenting and what NOT to do or how to be!
Lastly, I just wanted to share the impact my survey had on some Moms, as they got back to me saying this was a huge wake-up call that made them wonder what their own kids would have to say about them if they were ever asked the same question!
Well, what will your children say about you when they are all grown up?
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