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Lasting Legacy
Making a today journal, before it is tomorrow
Written by Kat Patrick
In this culture of faxes, e-mails, and text messages, we mothers are called to be different. We are called to make lasting legacies for our children, because this is their era of myth-making. But what is the moan at every coffee morning, toddler group, and pre-school party? "Oh, I wish I'd written more in George's baby book." Or the admission? "I just chuck stuff in a box, and will sort it all out one day." That one day needs to be now, whether your child is five days, five months, or five years old, and if you use what I call the today principle, you will have something to show your children that will become a long lasting treasure of love.
The today principle is an approach I have adopted for maintaining my sanity. It is keeping a journal about your children's daily lives, but perhaps not the same way you kept a journal when you were a teenager. Do you remember those times? You were perhaps twelve, and you would stay up late at night, writing page upon page of angst and anger, and - more importantly - of the minutiae of happenings with your current love interest. Did he speak to you that day? Nearly touch your hand in the physics lab? Look at you, laugh at your jokes, smile? Fast forward almost thirty years, and I am still writing down the moments when my little boy smiles or kisses me or talks to me, saying "baby". The difference is that now I have not got an hour to sit up in bed and pen a novel, but about five minutes before I drop. Using the today principle, I write about only what happened today. I don't try to summarise or remember things from other days; I just give a snapshot of my children's lives in the past twenty-four hours.
A typical entry begins like this: April 7th - Today - Easter party at toddler group: bouncy castle plus egg hunt. Found three eggs. Ate them. Mummy is fitting into daddy's jeans now!
Perhaps I am kidding myself, and the minutiae is little different from that of a twelve year-old; however, there are times when the information is definitely handy, especially when a friend frets about her baby's sleep habits, or her toddler's poor diet, or the painstaking process of potty training. My today journals remind me of details I've forgotten (like my pre-schooler didn't sleep through the night until she was 2), and sharing these facts is a way of helping out your stressed out friends, not to mention yourself when subsequent children aren't sleeping either.
This brings up another major difference between a teenager's diary and a mother's journal: your words now aren't meant for your eyes only, under lock and key, but to be shared. While your friends may be interested in a few bits here and there, another audience will be far more captivated: your own children. Here is a ready made story in which they are the heroes. Just imagine, your toddler, bathed, dressed for bed, yawning, and handing you the today journal as she says, "Mummy, would you read this bedtime story?" And you think, "Finally, a book I don't mind reading over and over!"
Writing your journal is easy: just pick up a pen and some paper and start describing a few events that stick out about the day. There are, however, a few things to consider.
- Choosing a journal. Since this is something that is supposed to stand the test of time, buy a hardback blank book. Try to find a design you like so you'll want to use it.
- Choosing a writing implement. I prefer gel pens as I like to change colour for each entry, but you will need to experiment. Some types of paper may be too thin for ink, some too hard for pencil, and others too glossy for anything water-based.
- Choosing a time. Habits are formed by repetition, so find a time in the day when you are at your peak and can dash off a handful of lines. It's really that simple.
The most liberating part of writing it is that you need not worry about grammar or spelling or complete sentences - this is your record. Simply by scribbling down a few things that happened on that particular day, your journal will, little by little, start to unfold a unique and beautiful life. Above all, I just want to urge you to get started. It may seem a cliché to say that there's no time like the present, but when you're embarking on something called a today journal, then there is only one time to begin it.
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