A Parenting Bucket List

KLove with Amanda had a short article about creating a "Parenting Bucket List". It's a list of things you want to do with your kids before they get too old. I like the idea, but it sounds a bit overwhelming, too! Another to-do list-ugh. Yet, as the article states, all too soon our precious little ones will be full-grown adults, and how many times will we find ourselves saying, "I wish we would have..."

Honestly, I thought about what would go on my parenting bucket list and couldn't really think of anything. Twenty years of parenting wrapped up in a tidy list...how is that possible! Is it places to see? Lessons to teach? Big ideas or just making the most of the ordinary, everyday things? Is it re-creating some of our childhood memories, like mudpies in the rain with my Grandma?

I had a friend in Oklahoma who used to write a list of summer activities that she wanted to do with her two boys and she'd tape it to the back door so it was easy to see. She said she always felt like summer just flew by so fast and at the end they'd realize all the things they intended to do, but forgot about when they DID have time for them.

Her list included things like: trip to the zoo, making mud pies, sidewalk chalk, play in the sprinklers, backyard camp out and so forth. Our family had fun making a list last summer. And it helped. Nothing big or amazing, just simple summer things that I would have forgotten had they not been on the list on my fridge.

Bottom line, it's just a simple way to be intentional with the time we have with our children. If you're like me, you won't remember without a list :-)  ~Tiffany