Gransnet forums

Grandparenting

'When you were born' book.

(16 Posts)
silverlining48 Tue 28-Sep-21 13:56:39

That’s interesting Sago.

Sago Tue 28-Sep-21 13:44:52

I have set up an email address for my grandchildren, I send videos photos and write notes.
When they are older I will give them the address.

Santana Tue 28-Sep-21 13:20:45

I agree silverlining48, it is good to get an historical perspective. Even for me, reading back over the last 13, things have changed in the world.

silverlining48 Tue 28-Sep-21 08:41:59

Santana this wasn’t easy for her mum but it has worked out as well as it could for your gd so credit to all involved.
My dd finds my notes useful and sometimes compares (and contrasts)with her own children’s progress.
This sort of thing is an interesting historical document because over time things do change,
I came from the children should be seen and not heard period which these days is ancient history. smile

Newquay Tue 28-Sep-21 08:38:23

What a lovely idea-well done you for thinking of it! Too late now for most of us, of course!
When our eldest DGD turned 18 we made a computer photo album-seemed to take forever! Had to scan lots of photos from old albums too. It was a great success.
When we did her sister’s two years later we had the idea of starting the album with photos (and date) of her great great grandparents, great grandparents through to us like a pictorial family tree.
We were very pleased with it-and she was too!

Santana Tue 28-Sep-21 08:12:15

My GD has spent every other weekend with her father since she was 9 months old. Not been easy for her mum as you can imagine.
My GD went through a few months when she refused to go, and wanted to know why he left. A strong feeling of abandonment. Amazingly she has come through, accepted her father is an 'idiot' but loves him anyway.

Allsorts Tue 28-Sep-21 07:22:17

What a lovely idea Santana. It’s so very sad to think of her gd not knowing her father though.

Humbertbear Tue 28-Sep-21 07:05:36

When my oldest GD was born I was at work and used to print off small photos of her to put on my desk. I changed them regularly but kept them in an album which I gave to her when she was 15.
Over the last 5 years I have collected together photographs of the family - going back 100 years - and put them in albums, will everyone labelled. I’ve given these to my son for the GC,
I’ve also written down everything I can remember about the families of my parents so I can pass on the stories.

grannyactivist Tue 28-Sep-21 00:09:36

I love the idea of this, but I never even managed to fill in the ‘baby’s first year’ books or ‘red’ books for my own children. Nor did we keep the promised record of funny sayings that we planned to do. So I’m just packing in as much as I can with my grandchildren and praying they have good memories. ??

welbeck Mon 27-Sep-21 23:55:43

not for me.
the only popular songs i like are sounds from the first eight and a half years of my life.
and from much earlier, before i was born.
that's why i like angel vintage radio.

JackyB Mon 27-Sep-21 23:29:08

I was dusting the shelf with my CDs last week and I noticed one that I had been given which featured songs from the year of my birth (1954). None of them meant anything to me. I was a baby at the time! A record of the hits from the year you left school would be far more suitable.

But I wish I had done what Santana described in the OP. What a brilliant idea!

welbeck Mon 27-Sep-21 19:02:35

that's a nice idea.
when i was born, little was recorded, few photos.
i was interested to find out that the top of the hit parade that week, when i was born, is a song i have always felt drawn to.
bearing in mind this is long before the light programme played pop music, and nobody in my family would've bought a record. my parents never did, and siblings too young then.
so i wonder where i heard it.

Grandmafrench Mon 27-Sep-21 18:55:57

A simply lovely thing to do - keeping a diary but for someone too young to remember all the things that happened to them in the early days. Something for her to treasure forever : what a kind Grandma. ?

silverlining48 Mon 27-Sep-21 18:41:57

Have now done the same...typo!

silverlining48 Mon 27-Sep-21 18:40:51

I did this for both my dc. Kept it until they were 21 and gave them each their book, and gave now fine the same for both gc. It’s a lovely idea.

Santana Mon 27-Sep-21 17:40:00

My GD was born after her father had left, so finding a book for all the baby adventures with no reference to daddy was impossible.
So I made my own, and wrote in it for 13 years. It has taken the form of a letter, saying what she was doing, where we had been on outings, what was happening in the world, and much more.
I think now it is time to stop as she starts the next phase of her life. Any running commentary feels like an intrusion and an invasion of her privacy.
We talk about everything now so no need to fill in the gaps. I will give her the book when she is 16 or maybe 18.
Just wondering if anyone else has done this sort of thing.