He chomped down on the barbecued rib and snarled, tossing his head like a dinosaur. Instantly, he doused the next rib with sauce, devouring several like he hadn’t eaten in days instead of hours. Yep, we were creating memoirs for kids. Scrapbooking with a side of drama.
How do we teach our children to own their stories? Why does it matter? They are so young; do they even have stories?
Hold on to your horses, folks. Certainly, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss. Plus, Anna caught me by surprise with very personal family stories. Wow!
Liberal in the Best Sense of the Word
Eventually we all have stories we NEED to tell, even though it may not seem important when we are young. However, we all want to be heard when it matters to our personal sanity as adults. Why not prepare your kids now to with the skills to tell their stories?
Hopefully, they will thank you later.
Basically, how do we prepare our children to share themselves? To be liberal in all the best senses of the word?
By The Way: Anna in Action
Thank you to our many friends who are downloading our episodes with Anna. In two weeks, her thoughts about comic book and reading with young children have already been downloaded over 300,000 times!!
Our family occasionally gets asked to do videos. Perhaps you might enjoy seeing this video of Anna in her classroom at Grace Community School.
Reclaiming Our Nation’s Misspent Vocabulary
Together, Anna and I are reclaiming words like conservative, liberal, and moderate. Why should political and media hucksters get all the good words, I say!
Clearly, liberality used to be a badge of honor meaning generous. Since when did liberal become an insult?
“Anytime you take language out of a political arena or large bureaucratic arena and make it personal, then there’s more accountability,” explains Anna. “That’s a good thing. The word becomes more useful again, more nuanced.”
Personal Politics Aside
Politically speaking, I consider myself a unique mix of both liberal and conservative. Plus, I’m more moderate when I am really in touch with God’s Spirit. I bet you, too, are some combination of all of the above.
Here’s our Camp Krafve Definition of Liberal: Life-long learning about the generosity of sharing one’s self.
True Liberals
A true liberal is someone who goes out of their way to share themselves and their own resources, not anyone else’s. Starting in our own families and neighborhoods.
It’s not generous to give away something that does not belong to you. That’s called stealing.
In contrast, liberal giving requires personal sacrifice. Ideally, we build relationships, not just appease consciences by writing checks. Or spending someone else’s tax dollars. Naturally, accountability follows relationships.
“I love the idea of you get credit for being generous when you share yourself,” adds Anna. “That’s a very vulnerable thing to do. Brave.”
For my quote-loving friends, I looked for a quote that predates modern politics.
“Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved.” ~Aristotle. We found more quotes for you at the end of today’s blog.
Memoirs for Kids
Next I wanted to talk to Anna about teaching children to tell their own stories in a very liberal, generous, self-giving kind of way. Did you know memoirs for kids can also make kids better readers? You bet!
You may be wondering how in the world a little kid could create a memoir? How could they possibly have any stories yet at 3, 6, or even 15 years old?
Fortunately, good story telling skills can be taught to the youngest child, whether you’re creating fiction or nonfiction,
Our Family’s Scrapbook Memoirs For Kids
For example, back when their young cousins spent a week with us, I took pictures of everything we did early in the week.
“We hauled a raft down to the lake,” laughs Anna, remembering. “We used black trash bags as raincoats, popped a hole for our heads and our arms. It was hilarious playing in the sprinkler.
Then, I took the film to a 1-hour developer for double prints.
Next, each kid got their own pile of pictures. We pasted the pictures into a scrap book. Finally, each child made up the wildest story they could think of to go with their random pictures.
For instance, a big brother’s messy face covered in barbecue sauce became a space alien. Gory, perhaps, but very playful and hilarious with the picture.
Memoirs of Fun Moments
My kids’ childhood scrapbooks are a perfect example of fiction, fun, and treasured memories.
“It was such a fun activity. We got to see ourselves as something different because we took those photos and rearranged the order and made ourselves into characters for a plot,” says Anna.
Astronaut? Veterinarian? Mountain Climber? What an easy way to spark a child’s imagination!
“The characters were us, grinning and being happy.” explains Anna. “That was the plot of the scrapbook. It was just having fun together.” (Shout out to my cousins. I love you very much! ❤️)
“And you don’t get the blank page syndrome when you’re looking at the photos. You just make them work and you tell a silly story,” Anna summarizes.
Memoirs for Kids: Post Cards
Post cards are another easy way to help your child make memoirs for kids. Enthusiastic grandparents and cousins can make story-telling a breeze. Especially since youngsters delight in getting mail.
In our family, postcards are a tradition my parents started. Both travel and staycations offer another great chance to coach your children to read by creating travel journals.
Whenever they traveled, my parents sent each grandchild a post card. Our kids loved deciphering easy-to-read messages recounting their grandparents’ adventures all over the world.
“My children just got postcards from Miami from you and Dad. Those were like field guides. We just talked about field guides earlier in the last episode. The wonderful thing about what you sent them is it was literally four sentences,” says Anna.
When Family Passions Overlap
“One of my favorite experiences as a family we did that involved being vulnerable, sharing ourselves, a truly liberal experience, was when we sat down and we talked about giving,” says Anna.
Years ago, Dawn Franks ushered our family through a really sweet conversation about generosity. We wanted our grown children to pass true liberalism down to our grandchildren.
Bethesda: Giving of Self
In our family conversation, Dave and I jumped at the chance to explain to our grown kids why we both love Bethesda Health Clinic so much. Throughout East Texas, folks are struggling to afford the ridiculous cost of medical care and health insurance.
Certainly, the leaders who started Bethesda prompted a conversation our community needed. How could we come together to keep the rising cost of health care from pricing out hard-working people?
Bethesda is liberalism at its finest. It’s not a free clinic or a charity clinic, it’s a neighborly clinic. Each month, doctors, dentists, nurses, volunteers, and all kinds of churches join together across denominational lines and give of themselves. Many educators, nonprofits, businesses, and organizations join in to collaborate, receiving care for the people and employees they serve, too.
As a result of neighbors coming together, Bethesda provides excellent care without any government intervention. We consider Bethesda a miracle of truly liberal giving, which grows more precious daily.
More Memoir Ideas for Kids–Cemeteries: One Last Thought
As you teach your kids to read (and liberality of heart), don’t forget about cemeteries. They are filled with family stories and local history. Plus, the markers only have a few syllables in each sentiment. What better way to put together the sounds vowels and consonants make? And you introduce your child to your own personal history as well.
Our family loves the Texas State Cemetery near the state capitol, filled with Texas heroes and some of our own family as well.
Be sure and take crayons and paper with you to rub off letters and numbers with your child. Carefully respecting the grave markers, of course! Cemeteries are a great place to help kids sequence. There’s more about sequencing in our Comic Books post.
Not the End of the Story
“In teaching our children to tell their stories, we are also teaching them that death is not the end of the story,” says Anna. “But for believers who know God loves them and has redeemed them through Jesus, the cemetery is not the end of the story. It’s important to communicate to kids that we are not afraid of death.”
I love it that my sweet daughter set me up to end today’s blog with Jesus’s resurrection!
Jesus is alive and coming back. For those who love Jesus now, our resurrection will happen in the future. We’re looking toward to that moment when He returns.
“It’s (Jesus’s return) the culmination of ALL stories,” adds Anna.
High drama indeed! I pray your kids’ memoirs include faith in Christ, the risen Savior!
It’s ALL About You!
We are really grateful for YOU! Helping each other is how we plan to change the culture together one healthy conversation at a time. A big goal requires big collaboration. Your fellowship means the world!
We LOVE to hear from YOU!
Which family stories unite those you love? How are you conveying skills to your own kiddos? What crazy stories have your kids told that turned out to be true?
🙂
Cathy
May we pray together?
Dear good Father, You spoke the world into existence. By Your creation we understand Your benevolent and powerful nature. You set us apart from all Your creation by giving us the ability to speak. Teach us to use our words wisely, as a blessing, not a curse. Help us create fun, healthy memories with our kids and grandkids. Give us great conversations. Inspire us to be truly liberal. Prompting us to create loving communities where You are honored. We want to be like You and share ourselves. Bless us now because that’s Your heart’s desire. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray. Amen.
More from Our Book Tour Adventure!
While in Colorado Springs, I had the huge blessing of being face-to-face with Connections Expert, DeeDee Lake. We know each other through CrossRiver Media.
She invited Dave and I to join her and her hubby for dinner, a family moment we cherish.
In addition, we made new friends at Focus on the Family Book Store. A true privilege since they have ministered to four generations of my family!
After a breather, we have more events and plans coming up this fall, including our next Book Bananza! Because we are Bananas for Books!
So stay tuned for more adventures to come!
Speaking of Great Conversations–
Check out this amazing conversation between two great musicians, Miles Pike and Michael Card. You’ll love what these two godly men say about family, faith, and creativity. (Michael mentions By/For.org, a website created to GIVE away lots of creations, art, music, etc.)
Your Own Upcoming Conversational Adventures
Are you dreaming of your own conversational adventures? Could the right conversation change everything in your life? How can we take a deep breath and step into our fear of rejection?
At Camp Krafve, we’re creating tools to help you pass along bold, noble ideas.
Share a Book, Write a Review
People are telling us they love our books. We’re so happy they are helping. Please consider buying two. One to bless yourself and one to bless someone else!
Then, help us by writing a review. And THANK YOU!!!!
For Marriage Conversations: https://Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=1936501562
For The Well: https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B08M4G1Q6Z
More Camp Krafve Favorite Quotes Just for YOU
“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.” ~Abraham Lincoln
“Storytelling is about two things; it’s about character and plot.” ~George Lucas
“It’s all storytelling, you know. That’s what journalism is all about.” ~Tom Brokaw
Cathy Krafve, speaker, host of Fireside Talk Radio, and author of The Well: The Art of Drawing Out Authentic Conversations and Marriage Conversation: From Coexisting to Cherished. We invite you to join the Fireside Tribe. Truth with a Texas Twang
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