Lesson Learned about Journaling

[mymalloryboys]

I was like a kid in the candy store this week-end as I received a huge stack of layouts in the mail. I ordered from ScrappingSimply and I am so impressed!!! The true gift was getting the pages into albums and presenting them to my boys. They all three poured over their scrapbooks and have not stopped looking for 3 days! I learned a valuable lesson - their favorite pages were the ones with the most journaling! They read their pages out loud and they had me read them out loud too. The smiles on their faces were priceless! So as I may get caught up in decorating my pages, I will try to remember how much the boys appreciate the stories and the words! Hopefully I will find the perfect balance! Thanks for listening!

[earlofoxford]

You're so right, Amy. All the goodies are tons of fun, but in the long run, it's the stories that will last and keep their attention. I look on my pages as part of my legacy to my grandchildren and their children.

[Jen D]

My kids love reading what I have written about them. They look back and love to see the stories of what they liked or funny things they said. It is so fun to watch them light up and see how much we love and adore them

[marnie]

How precious and what a great reminder! My boys are 29 and 32 and they still get a kick out of reading little facts/stories about them in their baby books. Good job, Mom!

[kb7496]

So great to know! I *hate* to journal. I feel as if I never have the right words to say, or it is so *forced*.

[justmp]

How wonderful! I noticed the same thing about journaling around here...when I very first started digi scrapping, I did lots of pages that just had titles or quotes or whatever, and then I found a year or so later when looking back through my album that the ones I actually enjoyed looking at the most were the ones with journaling.

[anke]

that is so so true. I am not very good with words either and often the stories escape me, but I will try harder in the future!

[akpatterson]

GREAT point!!! One of my favorite pages that I've done was a whole page of what my daughter was doing, saying, etc... at that point in time. I actually had it on my mind this week-end to do another one soon!

[carollee]

Oh so true, I want to know the story behind the photograph always.

[mugsbigsis]

This makes me smile. :O)

[maureenreynolds]

That is such a great message, and don't you especially love it when it comes from boys Amy!

I sent my eldest, still in Afghanistan, the ME-Tav page from Cathy Zielzke's class that had a short bit on him on it. My T page. I knew of all the things I could say to him now, that page had it all, and I wanted him to have it...just in case. He sent me an email back saying how it had touched him and made him cry in public. I'm talking about a 44 yr old here. So just write what's in your heart as if you were talking right to your child. It works.

[digigrandma]

I agree about the stories, Amy....my six year old grandson chooses the albums I've made for bedtime stories! I was so surprised...he wants to read every single line I write on the pages. It was a lesson for me, too. I am going to try to write more.

[KarenC]

How neat! Thanks for sharing.

[Elena]

Thanks for sharing that lesson Amy! I am so bad at journaling, but I will definitely have a picture of your little guys smiling over your journaling in their books next time

[DonnaNJ]

What a great reminder.. always the things that come from the heart are the most precious

[home in ottawa]

So true. I think about the photographs that I have of my father's family. My father remembered little about the who, why, what, when and where of those photos. Now that he is gone, the only stories are the ones which he told me. I want to leave more of my generation for my daughter, but the truth is that I have forgotten much of the W5 of my childhood pictures. I often journal too much and try to fit it all in....

[Kayleigh]

Thank you for the great reminder Amy -- glad to hear that your boys are loving the pages. My kids are still in the look at the photos & elements stage flipping really quickly but the journaling will be so special in the years to come.

[Amy L]

Very inspirational! Thanks for the reminder about the journaling, so important! Glad your family is enjoying your fabulous pages.

[jesshunt]

how wonderful - definitely an amazing treasure you've created - thanks for sharing the experience and your thoughts on this

[LoriS]

So glad to hear that, Amy! I love my pages from SS as well! I am expecting about 25 pages in the mail.... I just ordered a big lot in February during their last sale!
Journaling is SO important! I am going to try to do more of that...

[Amson]

Totally agree on the journalling. My family are the same.

[Erika in TX]

The story telling is why I started scrapbooking in the first place! My oldest dc would lug the photo albums over to me on a daily basis and ask for "da stories". So I would plant them on either side of me and proceed to tell the the stories of the pictures in the album. When they learned to read I thought, "I should just write down these stories so they could read them for themselves." That's when I started scrapbooking.

Actually, I think that my journaling has improved greatly since I switched to digital. I have gobs of pages done in my traditional albums, but not all of them are journaled. A case of "I can go back later and do it"...but with digi, you can't print until it's done.

[Jana Morton]

Yes, my kids are the same way Amy....I have to read every page and sometimes several times....it is a great reminder about the importance of journaling which is my least favorite part!

[Lindar70]

Awww, that's wonderful to hear, Amy. The stories ARE so important. I'm usually pretty good about journaling, but sometimes I can get caught up in just giving a few facts about the event. I keep telling myself to take the time to go more in-depth with the journaling - my family will so appreciate it later on.

[ptknox]

Amen sister.

[JALong]

I found out the same thing when I printed my first books. Good to be reminded!

[ang66]

I am terrible at journaling and I must try harder too! I loved reading everyones comment here!!

[Starlite9711]

The stories are so important aren't they? I made a deal with myself to start journaling more, and honestly, sometimes I think it's harder for me to FINISH a page now, BUT I do realize the value in the words! Glad that the boys love them so much!!!

[Missybaby]

This is so true, everyone loves to read journaling on pages. So glad your kids were so excited about the albums! Makes ya feel good.

[donitab]

thanks for the reminder - it is so easy to get in the cutesy title, quick pages, but it truly is the journaling that will have true meaning in the future!