Latest / 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids. / The Greatest Gift Every Parent Should Give: A Timeless Journal for Your Child's Memories

Transcript

The Greatest Gift Every Parent Should Give: A Timeless Journal for Your Child's Memories · 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids.

• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to another episode of Five Minute Parenting.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Today I have a special guest, Jennifer Bosma.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: She's uh has she's been married for 35 years and has three grown daughters and three granddaughters, I just found out.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: She was a she's a retired teacher after 23 years, and uh she serves in children and in women's ministry and is a consultant to her local pregnancy center.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: She's authored two Christian children's books, I Know the Plans, which is perfect for Easter baskets and baby showers, and The Baby Garden, which is great for siblings waiting on a baby to join their family.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: She has a wonderful podcast called Front Parking Spot, and I encourage you to listen to it.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So today, welcome to Five Minute Parenting.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: And she's going to talk on a topic that she shared on her podcast, which I absolutely love.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I invited her here so that my listeners could hear about the best gift every parent should give.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, Jennifer.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, Sandra.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for having me on today.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: It is always so much fun to talk to you.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'm I'm glad you're back for a second time on our podcast.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really excited for you to share the best gifts.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, of course, yes.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I have to um give a shout out to you because you are my winner from that wonderful the little journal that I offered.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to tell you the story about the journal.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the best gift that I would like to share with parents, hands down, this is one of those gifts that when people ask you, um, what would you ever take if you had a leave for a hurricane?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Or what if would you ever take if there was a fire?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: What is a one item in your house you would take?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: And this is this journal for your kids.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Let me explain.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: When I was pregnant, it was my first baby shower, my sister-in-law gave me this journal.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh wow, thanks, thanks, sister-in-law.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is great.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of empty pages.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna have so much spare time to write in this.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, and when we're authors, you would think that, Sandra, I would be all excited about this being an author.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: But back in the day, I don't know about you, I didn't write a lot when my kids were small, did you?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, no, you're busy taking care of them.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: And that was my thought when I got this journal.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm like, you know, and she mentioned that this is a blank book for you to write little notes to your children throughout the years.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: And little notes like, you know, your your firstborn and like your thoughts of you first brought them home from the hospital, and then your the little things that they do, you know, each day or funny things that they do.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: And and, you know, fast forward to kindergarten, fast forward to friendships, fast forward to all the things that a child, the milestones that kids go through in their life.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought, well, that's a pretty cool idea.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: So my daughter was born a couple of weeks later, and you know, what was in my hospital bag was this little book.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I had this little book and I was just jotting her notes, like, you're here.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I talked about her name and some of her birth facts and all that stuff and all the cool the scriptures I prayed for her over her birth.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: And that was my first entry.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then throughout the years, um, I would write in it.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: And one thing, Sandra, I don't know, it's busy moms, and we can remember this.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have a lot of time.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: And the thought of having anything to write about like every day, that would just give you stress.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I just I didn't have book bondage that I would just write in it throughout the years.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: And there was never, there's no rules for this book.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: You can even put pictures in it, but it's not necessarily a photo album, it's more just your just your thoughts and your prayers.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: You can write prayers in this book, you can write funny things that they did, you can write um things that they did that were kind of naughty or just little things.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: And as you, as they get older, you're writing in this book on their first trip to kindergarten on the bus, and all the things like their first date and their first prom and the first time they're driving a car.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And what's so cool is it's just one book.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: You're not meant to have multiple volumes, you're just meant to have this little book, and you can write short, you can write long.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And um, what was really cool, and then I subs subsequently I got books for all my daughters.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: So they and it just sits next to my bed or in a drawer.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's nothing major.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: But the cool part about this is when my daughter got married at 24, I grabbed this book and I took it to her rehearsal dinner, and I had one page left in this book.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: I was sitting there, I remember with her aunt and uncle and sitting there, like, I have to write in the book, and all everyone's talking.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: We're at a very festive celebration, and here I am, one page left.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: And God knew God had that timing perfect.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I just wrote in it on her rehearsal dinner, and then I flipped through it and saw how God was so faithful through the years on prayers that I had prayed for her, or like outcomes it's of like of situations she was going through, and how God's showed his face every time.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: So we were giving speeches at her rehearsal dinner, and me as her mom, you know, everyone did a little speech, and I stood up and and told her about this book and gave it to her.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it was a mic drop.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone's like, oh my gosh, look at this book.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually read one of the little um, one of the entries in it too.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it wasn't the one the night before.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it was the night before, like at her rehearsal dinner, but I wrote some other ones like when she first met her husband and her and her thoughts on that, like meeting him.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: And um, but it was really special.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't have a lot of time to read the whole thing because when you're planning for a wedding, you get pretty busy.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: But afterwards, she says, Mom, did you you have to read through this?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like it is, it was crazy how God was so faithful.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, that's why I think it is the best gift for all of your children to receive from you.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it's something that's priceless.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's so amazing.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: I love the fact that you said there's no pressure, you don't have to write it in every day, but you can write when you feel led.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Second, I love the idea that you have prayers in there and that she can go back and see answers, and you can go back and see answers.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I just think that's so incredible.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that's just amazing that um that you've done that.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't wait to share the journal that I won from you with my.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and it was so sweet.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I also wanted to share too another thing.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: You can take this a step further.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And when my my sister-in-law gave this to me for my daughter, um, I got the idea then to do one for my husband and I.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: And we just got a book and we write notes in that because I know like a lot of people are into cards, but cards are like$5.99,$6.99, kind of expensive.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: And what do you do with them?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so we have even have a book for us that I got it many years later, but I just started writing in just on our like our story.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: And one day when we're passed away, you know, we've been married 35 years, our daughters will love seeing this book.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: And we, instead of buying cards, we just write in this book to each other.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: And it's the same rules.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: There's no rules, you know, you can do it whenever you want, and we just leave it by each other's sink or whenever there's a moment or um that we feel we need to write in.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: And another really cool thing, Sandra, how many years have you been married?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: We have been married.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh, you're asking me.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, 85.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: So close to 38, 39.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're an 80s bride.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: Gotta love it.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was 89.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: We got married in 89.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: So you're you're I'm on 35 years, so you're coming up to 40, really.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Almost.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, I don't know about you, but um, I don't remember what I did on my seventh anniversary.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Do you?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: No, and I wish you had done what you did.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds so amazing.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what you do.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: And the on the very back, I had this little notebook paper, you know, that's taped in.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I wrote down every just year one and what we did.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: And when I first got this book, I think we were six or seven years into our marriage, so I could remember then.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: But now I don't remember.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: And we write, I write down every anniversary what we did, and it's just such a cool chronology.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it's the best gift for parents and for your children, or for if your aunt and uncle or grandkids or whatever, give it to them.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it's also a great gift for you and your husband.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: So hope your listeners get a lot out of that.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and be sure to check out the notes for this podcast because we have uh Jennifer's website listed, and you can also check out her front parking spot podcast.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's just great encouragement for women in their Christian walk.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you, Jennifer, for being with us today.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: You are so welcome, Sandra.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: You're my inspiration.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I I've kind of when I started Front Parking Spot podcast, you know, it's just really we to talk to the young women today and the young moms because you know we've been there and it's just so great to share with with younger moms as as they're going through the same things that we did.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: That is so true.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you again.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Bye bye.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Sandra.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Have a blessed day.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.