Things that children remember (or don’t!)

Things that children remember

When children are very small, they remember everything!  Their brains are like sponges, learning how to walk. They learn new words, the alphabet song, grammar, and sentences, just to name a few.  They are also learning how to get into everything. In addition, they are good at figuring out how to remove things and put them in places they don’t belong (“hmmm, I remember last time I put peanut butter in the CD, it made funny noises”).  They forget nothing.

Then they get to be pre-teens and teens, and they have a LOT to remember between school work, parental lessons, conversations with friends and daily new and unique experiences.  They apparently get better at only remembering those things that are important to them.

Which brings me to my story.  My oldest son is going to be moving into an apartment with a friend in the very near future, and I’ve been doing some reminiscing about both my children.  I was having a conversation with my younger son (17 years old) recently.

I said, “Wow, do you remember when I was your cub scout den leader? We made the Pinewood derby cars in your friend’s basement?”.

DEAD SILENCE.

“Uh, mom?”

 “Yes?”

“You were my DEN LEADER?”

HOW COULD HE FORGET?

I loved the small den meetings, where I’d gather the 4 or 5 boys and do a project on a weekly basis. That being said, I HATED the big pack meetings where 50 or more young boys and many adults were in an overcrowded room with an unorganized agenda that never started earlier than 20 minutes late.  At those meetings I would be responsible to ensure the 5 boys in my care didn’t run around and jump on things.  Uhhhh, they’re 8.  That’s what they do.  Start the meeting on time, keep it on schedule and keep it kid-focused and they won’t be running around!  Anyway, I digress. My problems with meetings that are poorly run could be an entire different blog.  The point here is that for several years, I plastered a smile on my face and participated in these meetings, hating every minute of the chaos.

AND my son didn’t remember!

I can only hope there is plenty they DO remember. I hope they look back when they become parents and remember and use that information to plan activities will bring them closer together with their children.

And I also hope I didn’t forget too many wonderful things that my parents did for me when I was young.  That would be a shame.