by Helen Blackmore

Created on: April 29, 2008

The Benefits of Scrapbooking

Many years ago, as I prepared to leave home and get married, I realized I had little to show for my first 19 years on this planet. We were a family of ten. Mom and Dad took pictures and home movies, but I had nothing tangible to bring with me except my medical records, birth certificate, yearbooks from school and some pictures. That is certainly understandable; Mom would have needed a warehouse to store all our individual memorabilia!

When my children were young, I carefully preserved many "precious" items as they outgrew them. Favorite stuffed animals, special outfits, favorite toys, crafts from school, anything that they held dear or a reminder of family fun. These are their "memory boxes".

As they got older, I created individual photo albums, but I wanted to make something special that they could add things to as well. Scrapbooks seemed to be the perfect answer. In addition to pictures, there are many different mementos from camping trips and vacations. The programs from each school band and choral concert are especially nice because they list their name and instrument, and describe the performance given that evening. After each of these school functions we would go out for a tasty ice cream treat, and I took a picture of our favorite place.

In both of their scrapbooks, the first part is exactly the same. This is the family history section, with pictures of all their relatives, Mom and Dad when they were young, and all the family pets we have ever had. I also included a graph of our family tree, going back to the 1800's, and the family crests. Everything they need to know about their own family. Every picture has the person's name, so years from now they won't be wondering "who is that?"

Their "younger years" are documented in the second section, with comments and quotations. If you don't write it down, you tend to forget the funny things they say when they are little! When my eldest was three years old, he saw a commercial for athletes' foot on television, where they show someone's feet on fire. He solemnly came to us and asked if he was going to get "Leets Feet", and it took a while before it dawned on us that he was worried his feet were going to go on fire!

Since both are musicians, the next sections are dedicated to bands they have been in, memorabilia from shows they have played, newspaper clippings, and even my drummers' bracelet from Warp Tour (they played four states). I have original CD's their respective bands produced, and pictures of the different logos they created for T-shirts (a staple sale item for bands).

The last section is ten blank pages. I want them to keep adding to their books on their own. They really loved their individual scrapbooks, and I believe they will keep adding things long after I am gone, to show their own children some day. It really makes me happy that they will be bringing their own history with them when they venture out on their own.

Learn more about this author, Helen Blackmore.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.