This will probably be the craziest blog post you’ll see from me. Okay, well perhaps not the craziest EVER, but the craziest to date.
Since I am in the process of moving in with my boyfriend and his family, we have been cleaning up certain areas of the house. One room in particular used to be his oldest daughter’s room but she hasn’t used it in a long time. We are converting it into my oldest son’s room – the only boy. Obviously the girly stuff has to come out of there.
While weeding through Bratz dolls and Beverly Cleary books, and sorting through a panda bear collection and drawings that would impress most adults, I had an epiphany. Unfortunately it was too late, but it wasn’t for others.
So I decided to share my epiphany in hopes that someone else would use my idea and commemorate the mess while cleaning it up.
As I was sifting through different materials in her room, I noticed that many of the items reflected who she was as a person, her interests, her talents and the special things about Vanessa.
On her wall were cut out photographs of fairies, and dragons, Japanese art and anime stuff. She has a panda bear obsession and that reflected not only in her stuffed animal collection, but in many of her crafts and drawings as well.
And the drawings were a whole different area. We carefully untaped each and every drawing she had placed on the wall. When we were done I breathed a sigh of relief, only to realize afterwards that I wish I had photographed the whole collection on the wall. And why hadn’t I taken a photo of the panda bear collection lovingly placed in the corner of her top bunk? And what about that book shelf and all her great books that somehow overflowed from the shelves and found themselves all over the room?
I wish I had thought to photograph these things. I wish I could go back and replace the little sticky fish she had made to accompany the blue paints that were painstakingly added to the wall to make it an under the ocean theme. I wish I had thought of all that.
So if you’re about to embark on a change to your child’s room or even just a room in your home, take photos! Commemorate the different interests you child has. From collections to posters and books, and music and DVD collections. Our children change so fast, their love of blue’s clues can so quickly be replaced with butterflies that it can make your head spin.
I wish I had taken those photos of Vanessa’s room before we tore it apart, so she’d always remember who she was at age 11. But at least she has this article to keep and remember, and to know that I wish I had done it.
What types of things reflect who your child is?