The Fleeting Saturdays of Childhood

I truly enjoy recording our family’s memories. I scrapbook, keep a sentence-a-day journal, and write a weekly email to distant relatives. And I always try to keep an ear out for new and creative ideas. Over the weekend I came across Dr. Harley Rotbart’s wake-up call to parents – that there are only 940 Saturdays between the time a child is born and the time that child goes off to college. We’ve all heard how fleeting childhood is, but numbers like this can be an eye-opening reminder.

Dr. Rotbart recently created a keepsake journal for parents to record these fleeting Saturdays along with a booklet of ideas for how to spend this time together.

I personally don’t think a Saturday journal is the right fit for our family. Most importantly, many of our family’s most special memories didn’t happen on a Saturday. The journal would have missed my son’s first steps, along with many holidays and family vacations. It would also have missed the special moments that popped up during our weekday morning and evening routines.

Thinking back to my own childhood, I don’t recall Saturdays as being especially memorable. And as a parent, most of my favorite family memories happened throughout the week…usually when I least expected them. Of course, we plan special outings as a family or extended family, but even the most memorable moments during these trips were not when or what we had planned. My son could have done without his first sledding experience but he loved playing with a bucket of snow in the bathroom.

For some people, trying to turn every Saturday into a special memory could easily become stressful and overwhelming. It might be better to let the memories happen organically rather than forcing them. For others, however, the journal might give them that extra nudge to try something new.

I don’t know what memories my son will remember most from his early childhood. But I think for me and my husband, Saturdays will most likely only be about 1/7 of them.