Why Photo Memory Books are Important for Our Children

Being a parent means that, between checking the closet for monsters at 3am, embracing novelty foods like spray cheese and Dino Nuggets, and navigating an assault course of toys and stuffed animals every day after work, you actually wind up spending a lot more time thinking about the sentimental side of things. It’s hard to put your finger on when it happens – whether it sets in the moment they’re born, or when they start walking or talking – but it’s undeniable. Gathering memories, filling baby books, and taking photos like it’s your job – it’s all part of becoming as sentimental, bleary-eyed, and joy-filled as our parents.

There are a lot of things we can do to celebrate our kids, and to mark milestones that they will enjoy looking back on in five, ten, twenty, fifty years’ time.

In our opinion, one of the greatest things you can do is create a photo memory book every time your archives start to fill up, gradually creating a collection of volumes celebrating every chapter of their lives, as and when they come and go. Here’s why…

They give children a sense of themselves

If you’ve ever experienced the rollercoaster of emotions a toddler goes through the first few times they recognize themselves in the mirror, you’ll have a good idea of what we’re talking about here.

Children spend years getting a handle on who they are, and how they fit into their household, their wider family, and the world at large. It’s pretty remarkable how quickly things happen, and how little time stands between ‘zero self-awareness’ to an unshakeable understanding of who they are, and where they come from.

What better way for them to get to know themselves, and their families, than by creating photo books that they can study and revisit with you over the years? It’s a wonderful way for them to learn about their own story, and it’s not one that can be told in any published picture book.

They give children a sense of time

Time works differently for kids. Babies, toddlers – even teenagers – see time in a totally different way to the rest of us. You probably have fond memories of summer breaks that seemed to stretch on for months at a time, seven hour school days that seemed interminable, or birthdays and Christmases that went by in the blink of an eye.

You probably also know the joy of reflecting on moments that are starting to shrink into the past, or times when we looked and acted totally differently to how you look and act now.

For kids who are predominantly focused on what’s happening in the here and now, there’s something incredibly rewarding, exciting and joyful about intentionally looking back into the near-past, and remembering things that, at the time, they moved on from without looking back.

One of the best examples of this lies in showing a four or five year old their baby photos, and watching them get their heads around the fact that, yes, that was them once upon a time.

They connect children with family members, near and distant

We all know that pang of regret we feel when we realize that the passing years make it increasingly difficult for entire families to find themselves all in the same place, at the same time. Recent years in particular have meant that cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents are often unable to bond and connect with the younger family members as much as they would like.

The value of being able to open up a photo book and reconnect with faces that they haven’t seen for a month, a year, or even longer is something that can’t be overstated, and will help them to process not only the experience of missing someone, but also the joy of remembering them.

They are theirs to treasure

These days, kids are pretty tech-savvy, and they know that, along with games, photos and videos are house on mum or dad’s phone. The thing is, they can’t always access them, and teaching some boundaries with tech is always a good idea, anyway. Fortunately, creating a photobook online using all of their favorite pictures from your Google photos is simple enough that they can forget about poaching your phone entirely. 

Their own photobooks, curated and created for their own bookshelves, will be theirs to enjoy and dive into whenever they want. Unlike toys, which are so quickly outgrown, and books they may still need help understanding, photo books mean something at every age and stage of development.

Sure, their meaning will change over the years, but that’s part of the beauty of having them there, celebrating moments that are moving further and further into history.