16 Feb Did you know that photos can help increase your child’s happiness?
When the kids start school we are often asked if they can answer DO YOU KNOW questions like: ‘Do you know where you live?’ ‘Do you know your full name?’ ‘Do you know when your birthday is/how old you are?’ Research has shown that knowing the answer to slightly deeper questions about family history like: ‘do you know where your mum and dad went to school? Do you know where your parents met?’ can significantly increase children’s emotional health and happiness. A while ago there was a great article that appeared in the New York Times – The Family Stories that Bind Us To quote from that article:
“The more children knew about their family’s history… the higher their self-esteem… The ‘Do You Know?’ scale turned out to be the best single predictor of children’s emotional health and happiness. The bottom line: if you want a happier family, create, refine and retell the story of your family’s positive moments and your ability to bounce back from the difficult ones.”
One of the easiest to get those conversations started and tell those stories is to spend time looking through your photos. Remember the old saying a picture tells a thousand words! This year we challenge you to prepare and equip yourself to get these conversations started and work towards increasing your child’s emotional well being and happiness. Here are some simple ideas to help you get started.
- Get the photos off your phone and/or camera
- Print some photos to display around your home
- Create a family year book and read it to your children
- How about an A to Z photobook all about your family to help your children learn the alphabet? I did one for my two and despite them now having learned all their letters they still love reading it!
NOW is the perfect time to get into the routine of getting your photos organised so you can utilise them in any number of photo related products that can be enjoyed by your family. If you are curious about the 20 questions on the ‘Do You Know Scale’ read more here. How often do you look through your old photos? Could your kids answer some of these ‘do you know’ questions? Have a magical day Mara
Dear Mum on the Smart Phone: You Could Be Kidding Yourself | The Filing Fairies
Posted at 08:23h, 02 March[…] Late last year there was a blog post titled Dear Mom on the iPhone doing the rounds and causing quite the stir and some of the responses Dear Mom Judging Me For My iPhone and Dear Mom on the iPhone: You’re Doing Fine generated lots of passionate comment and discussions. At the time I was AMEN sistas, tell that to all those seemingly ‘perfect mums’ to quit judging THEN I saw this and it got me thinking. I don’t tend to make NYE resolutions but if I do I usually make them in March right after the first of our busy birthday clusters. Perhaps it is getting a year older that makes me so pensive. Retrospectively, I think the main reason I was so gung ho PRO about the response posts was that they justified my moments of weakness and lessened the guilt I felt reading the original. CONFESSION TIME: I know I am on my phone when I should be interacting with the kids. Please note that the use of the word should is directed at me (you can be your own judge, jury & critic). Because I want to be a ‘present parent’ morally I feel I shouldn’t be on my phone when it is ‘kids’ time. I totally support and ‘get’ that no one has the right to judge me nor do they know what is going on in my life and for that sentiment I continue to applaud these articles but personally I stand here before you and admit that when I am on my phone I feel like I am indeed ‘failing’ my kids. When I first read the posts it was much MUCH easier to nod along in agreement with these bloggers (and thousands of commenters and supporters) that I was working or that I had been watching the kids from sun up, than to admit that I was failing to be present in my children’s lives and enjoy my children’s childhoods…. I continually repeated to myself BUT I’M WORKING and that is important because through work I earn money and through money I am able to provide more for my family not to mention the fact that I enjoy my work (often to the detriment of family). So how do I propose to tackle the situation? What is my post birthday resolution? Well, as a professional organiser, dedicated planner and a list maker this ‘New Year’ I am carefully planning in SCHEDULED work times/hours and the goal is to stick to scheduled work time and family time with only the most urgent exceptions. The big challenge is not to let urgent requests become everyday excuses. So I might NOT be guilty of missing something of whale size significance but… imagine missing a first step or a ride without training wheels which to many parents are more memorable and valuable than any whale sighting. Even if you were present enough to see exactly who hit who to start the argument and being able to settle those little tiffs without fuss or bother. Many a day I would give my right arm not to have to referee another ‘he said, she said’ argument. Also as a mad mummy photographer (and obviously as a photo organiser) instead of huddling over the screen on my own I will be using the phone to capture those moments on the camera so that I can later on add those photos into an annual photo book. My kids adore looking through old photos in books or on screen and I love that the trip down memory lane with them gives me greater opportunities to get those great ‘do you know’ conversations started. […]
Reading Writing Arithmetic: Do you know the OTHER three R’s? | The Filing Fairies
Posted at 08:46h, 16 March[…] is my job as a parent to teach them the other three! This links closely to the concept of asking ‘do you know’ questions that we talked about last month. So I asked myself how can I find ways to build these […]
Doctor G and the Delightful Disney | The Filing Fairies
Posted at 08:31h, 13 April[…] the respect we have for our family traditions and would be most beneficial for the kids to answer ‘ Do You Know Questions’ (click to read more) and as such be great for their emotional […]