Want to always remember your kids young?

As parents, we often find ourselves swept away by the busyness of life, caught up in the whirlwind of daily routines and responsibilities. Amid this hustle and bustle, it's easy to let precious moments slip by unnoticed.

Do you remember your kid's favorite toy when they were one? Do you remember all the silly ways they would say new words? Do you remember your kid's favorite books over the years? We started to recognize we couldn’t remember the answers to these questions. As she rapidly changed and grew, as one does in their first years of life, the answers to these questions changed quickly also. If forgetting was happening this fast, there was no way we would remember everything about our daughter’s childhood, not to mention if we had other kids. I started taking notes on my phone entitled “Things I don't want to forget,” which were her silly sayings, funny ways she pronounced words, cute things she did, etc.

Fast forward a little later, and Mark and I were listening to this podcast where they were talking about a “birthday interview.” They asked their daughter a list of questions on her birthday each year to preserve all sorts of memories of the daughter’s childhood. I immediately wrote down this idea, the questions, etc., and designed a template I could use year after year with our daughter and her future sibling(s).

Our youngest daughter isn’t quite one, so we haven’t done this with her yet. For our oldest daughter, when she was too young to answer these questions herself, we filled out the interview based on what we knew about her likes/dislikes/preferences at the time. As she grew older and could articulate her thoughts, we began writing her answers to the questions. If her response differed from what we believed truly reflected her preferences, we noted our answer in a different color. This allowed us to track how her answers evolved over time and also ensured that we recorded her thoughts and feelings accurately, preserving a snapshot of who she was at each age.

The “Birthday Interview” has made several changes since the day I designed the first template. I’m really proud of what it is now and I hope you get to use it in a way that brings more intentionality to memories, birthdays, and joy in reflection.

Wholeheartedly,

Brittany