Think Outside the Yearly Portrait: Celebrate Your Children’s Growth through Art and Nature!

While there are many objects on the market to celebrate the growth of your children- photos, plaques, and clay handprints, to name a few- some objects endure longer and say more than these items.  A photo may fade, a clay handprint can turn to dust in the bottom of a box, but a living thing like a tree or a piece of art can grow and change with your child. 

Recently, some parents have decided to start commemorating their children’s growth not through yearly portraits or through adding another line on the wall growth chart.  Rather, they have chosen to watch a living thing like a sapling develop as their children do.  These parents plant the young tree in their yards when their children are small.  Each year, they take a picture of their children by the tree.  Through this tradition, parents create many things- a constant reminder of their children, a point of connection for those children to the home, and- not least of all- a beautiful, shady addition to the yard.

Planting a tree is not the only way to create this same sort of growing, changing memento.  Other parents turn to art, not nature, for their reminders.  These parents find a space- a concrete retaining wall, a garage door, a basement wall- and let their children paint part of or a whole mural on it every year.  From the time these children are small, they add to their mural.  By the time they are ready to leave their parent’s home, they leave behind them years of memories and a unique piece of art. 

So, if you’re looking for a different way to commemorate your children’s lives and growth, look beyond the typical souvenirs of childhood.  Look to nature and art, and you may find just the sort of keepsake that is as unique as your own children. 

Make Your Kids’ Play House a REAL Fort!

Every kid brags that their play house is better than the neighbors, but most of that is just wishful thinking.  It does not have to be, however! If you want to be the coolest dad or mom on the cul-de-sac, then spruce up your child’s play house by making it a real fort or castle!   What little boy or girl would say 'no' to a play area made of sturdy brick?  Who doesn’t want turrets?

These days, clay pavers come in all sorts of colors, textures, and sizes.  You can customize your child’s play area to match your home or you can make it mimic the stones at Valley Forge or Old West Point.  So, whether its battlements or crenellations you build, one thing is sure- your kids will be the kings or queens of the neighborhood with this sort of play house.  Consult with the kids, make some plans, head on down to you local building supply store, and let the good times begin!