Finding new ways to celebrate our children as they grow can be challenging. We have so many options to capture these moments, so many examples, ideas on Pintrest, most of which at this point feel cliché and even a little silly because we live in this age where parents are considered lame or “overly attentive” if they care about those things or basically do anything above and beyond to make their child’s childhood special. In that vast sea of ideas, this one was a great balance between the scrapbooking snowflake freehand cutouts with a memory on each one for each month of every year until they turn 10… and doing absolutely nothing at all.
I stole this 23 question interview from a friend’s Facebook page a while back and I wanted to do it with Liam before he started his first day of TK, but it took this long to find enough time to go through the whole thing with him because answering any question can be a challenge, but 23… well, that’s right up there with reading War And Peace. I was not only excited to see that he was able to complete this with me, but his answers are fantastic, silly, intelligent and some even shockingly profound.
I highly encourage each of you to do these types of surveys with your children at varying ages. It gives them, and you, something to look back on to see how they see you through the years. It also takes a mental snapshot of their amazing minds in these precious, fleeting moments. I hope you enjoy reading this and then copy/paste it to do with your own children.
Feel free to share your surveys as comments, I would love to see them!
1. What is something mom always says to you? You say I love you and follow directions (oh man… both true)
2. What makes mom happy? Hearts – the hearts inside that make you happy. And when we go peepee in the potty (true, kid. Very true.)
3. What makes mom sad? Broken hearts and broken people make you sad, sad, sad. (wow… deep, kiddo)
4. How does your mom make you laugh? Funny faces! (insert several funny faces here)
5. What was your mom like as a child? You ate salad (Random…)
6. How old is your mom? You are 5 years old – big, big, bigger than me (okay, okay.. enough with the big, we get the point.)
7. How tall is your mom? You are a little short (Don’t judge, you’ve got my genes. Just you wait.)
8. What is her favorite thing to do? To make birthdays like my own Star Wars birthday (Absolutely correct!)
9. What does your mom do when you’re not around? You work on your phone and do singing. (Not a bad assessment)
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Because you follow directions really good. (HA! Oh man, kid.. if you only knew…)
11. What is your mom really good at? You’re very great at making cake and gardens (Cakes, yes. Gardens… eh.. but thanks!)
12. What is your mom not very good at? Being quiet or building bugles (Yeah, quiet has never been a strong point for me… and building bugles? Really? Do you even know what a bugle is??? LOL!)
13. What does your mom do for a job? Your work is making juice pops, cleaning the mess and using the computer and reading on your phone (I suppose that about sums it up… )
14.What is your mom’s favorite food? Eggs and shakes (Yep, very true)
15.What makes you proud of your mom? Your heart makes me proud, mom (Wow. You’re pretty amazing, dude)
16. If your mom were a character, who would she be? Queen Amadala or Gamora (Yeah okay, I’ll take that!)
17. What do you and your mom do together? Build spaceships and practice letters (I’m better at letters than spaceships)
18. How are you and your mom the same? There’s three of us on the same path and we will go there together. Oh, and our heads are ovals. (Woah. That’s like… mystical, mini Buddha)
19. How are you and your mom different? You are not four (That is indeed correct. LOL And random)
20. How do you know your mom loves you? Yeah I love you too (This was said in that total, flippant “whatever mom” tone of voice)
21. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go? England to the Peter Pan clock (My child knows me well!)
22. How old was your Mom when you were born? Not too very old (Thanks, buddy! Keep thinking that…)
23. What does your mom like most about your dad? Because he’s silly (That is not wrong)
I have to say I’m surprised by his answers. While some were entirely silly and random, others were exactly right and even incredibly profound. I’m so happy I took the time to do this and plan to do it again every year.
The Cautious Mom 