Capturing Memories for Your Children

It’s a cliché, but kids really do grow so fast. One minute you’re changing diapers, the next you’re writing checks for college. That’s why capturing them using MemoriesGrow is so important.

Creating a virtual scrapbook every year with mementoes, photos and video is one way to capture your kids, but there are more inventive ways too. Check out these cute and original ways you can capture your kids from pregnancy through college.

Pregnancy is when a lot of mothers begin tracking their babies’ growth. If you’re up to it, have someone take a picture of you every month and then put all nine pictures into a pregnancy album.

Document everyday activities like breakfast, bath time, bedtime and everything in between and make the photos into a "day in the life of" album.

Take a picture of your baby on the first day of every month to show her progress throughout her first year.

Place an 8 ½ x 11 piece of paper on the front entrance of the nursery where people can write wishes and things for a newborn baby. Scan the sheets of paper and add them to the baby’s scrapbook.

Plant a tree or a rose bush in your garden when your child is an infant and take a picture of them every year to see how both of them grow.

Pick a day each summer to go to the beach or park with your kids (the first day of summer break could make for a nice tradition). Buy grosgrain ribbon and have it crisscrossed for a giant tic-tac-toe board. Find seashells at the beach or rocks at the park and snap a picture of your kids around the board.

Take a picture of your toddler wearing mommy’s dress if she’s a girl and daddy’s shirt if he’s a boy. Every year on the child’s birthday, take a picture of them in the same garment.

Have your kids wear raincoats and boots (preferably brightly colored ones) and place and inflatable pool in the yard with rubber ducks. A picture of the young ones having a blast in the “rain” will make a great picture to add to your growing up album.

Take a picture of your child every day for an entire year against the same background. On the child’s next birthday, compile the 365 images into a sideshow, documenting a day-by-day account of your child’s growth.

Pick out matching color dresses for girls and matching shirts for boys. Take a picture of them every year in the same shade, creating a scrapbook by color.

Take a picture every year of your kids on a special blanket. Place these pictures in a virtual scrapbook entitled “Snuggle Bugs.”

They may be in college, but that doesn’t mean that kids aren’t nostalgic for the good old days. Send your college-age kid a scrapbook of school pictures from all different ages (or one from every year!). Or present it to them on graduation day.

Send a piece of home to your kids by packing away something they’ve always liked, a frame, an ornament, or an old childhood heirloom. When he or she gets the package, have them send a picture of them with the memento and upload it to MemoriesGrow.

Collect family pictures, recipes and mementos and put them into a scrapbook for your college-age kid. Even though they’re probably bogged down with exams, papers and social events, they’ll appreciate the walk down memory lane.