As your kids are growing up, don’t you wish you could just stop time and savor every moment? Life moves so quickly, and you always end up wondering where all the time went. Especially when your kids are very small, they’re constantly reaching milestones and moving on to the next big thing.

When your kids get older, you’ll tell them lots of cute and funny stories about their younger selves. You can only hope your words evoke even a fraction of the emotions you’re trying to describe. The memories are as timeless as they are priceless, and you don’t want to lose them. So besides just keeping them in your thoughts, how can you tangibly record those memories for your children? Here are some creative ideas.

When your kids are little, they’re preferences and opinions are constantly changing as they learn more about their world and their personalities develop. Isn’t it funny how they once hated their now favorite food? And how at one point all they could talk about was how much they loved school? Track all these different stages by recording interviews with your kids. Either on video with a voice recorder, tape a question and answer session with your kids. Ask them about their least and most favorite things, and ask open ended questions about themselves. Make it a yearly event. One day they’ll love looking back and seeing firsthand how they changed over the years.

Occasionally spend an entire day documenting your kids’ days, from the time they wake up in the morning until they go to bed at night. Take pictures to represent different things they do, including the mundane like brushing their teeth, eating lunch, or watching a movie. It’ll be interesting for them to see what an average day was like during their childhood. You can also do this for special occasions, like going to an amusement park or the beach. If your kids love spending time with relatives like their grandparents, join them and document their day together. Document a few days per year, and organize the memories in a special “day in the life” scrapbook. 

You probably spend some time writing down milestones in the baby book, or creating a photo album of special moments. But there are so many little things that happen on a daily basis that are just as precious, like the funny thing your child said to the cashier at the supermarket, or the way they taught themselves to turn on the TV. Things like this make you laugh and smile, but over the years they’re forgotten. If you enjoy journaling, then keep a journal for each one of your kids by your nightstand. Every night, or as often as you can, take just five or ten minutes to write down just a couple sentences about any nice memories of the day. You won’t forget the little things, and when your kids are older they’ll love reading your thoughts.