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The Little Things I Hope My Kids Feel Nostalgic For Someday
Published 5/17/26
When people talk about childhood memories, they usually mention the big things.
Family vacations, the holidays, the first day of school.
But the longer I'm a parent, the more I suspect the things my kids will actually remember someday are much smaller.
Not the perfectly planned moments. Not the Pinterest-worthy traditions.
Just the ordinary things we do without really thinking about them.
The quiet, random, slightly chaotic rhythms of our house. The things that, right now, just feel like normal life.
I'm hoping that someday, they look back on them and feel a little nostalgic.
Playing Records
We play vinyl records in our house. Not because it's trendy, mostly because they sound better, and because they force everyone to slow down for a minute. You have to choose the record, flip it over halfway through, and listen to the whole thing.
There's something about the soft crackle before the music starts that feels warm and familiar. My parents played records growing up, so maybe that's part of it for me. I imagine someday my kids will hear that sound somewhere and feel like a kid again. John Prine playing while dinner was cooking, The Beach Boys while someone was cleaning the kitchen. It's not a big memory, and maybe it's more of a feeling. But it's one I hope stays with them.
Never Having to Ask for Craft Supplies
One thing my kids will probably remember about our house is that craft supplies are everywhere. Markers, glue sticks, paper, tape, yarn, pipe cleaners, everywhere, always.
If someone wants to make something, they don't have to ask. They just start. The kitchen table has seen its share of glitter disasters and questionable art projects. The West Elm dining table of my dreams is just going to have to wait, it wouldn't survive what this house does to a table. And yeah, sometimes pipe cleaners and beads stick to your feet when you walk through the shag rug, and that's its own kind of overstimulation. But I hope someday they remember that they were always allowed to create on their own terms. No permission needed.
Always Having Pets
We've always had pets. Dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens, a tarantula named Harry Bellafontane, a sheep we brought home in the back of the car. Pets aren't everyone's thing, and it's possible my kids grow up and want nothing to do with them. That's the gamble. But I figure no matter how it shakes out, they'll at least have the stories. The ones that start with, "so when I was eight, we had this sheep…" And that feels like enough. Blippi did say “Pets are family.”
Picking Songs in the Car
Like I said, music is big in our family, and everyone wants to be the first to pick the song, especially in the car. Someone always says they got skipped, or that they never get to pick first. Someone always plays the same song three days in a row and then forgets it exists. One kid always tries to pick the song with the most swear words he can get away with.
I know one day they'll be grown and driving somewhere alone, and a song will come on that puts them right back in that backseat, windows down, arguing about whose turn it is. I hope they feel a little homesick when it does.
A Hundred Other Tiny Things
There are a hundred other tiny moments I hope stay with them too. Saturday mornings when everyone is complaining about chores. 7-Eleven stops on the way home from school. Ice cream on a random afternoon just because. Late-night conversations when everyone should already be asleep. These aren't big traditions, they're just the small rhythms of a life being lived together.
The Moments That Don't Look Important Right Now
Parenthood has a funny way of making you second-guess everything. You wonder if you're doing enough. If you're creating enough memories. If you're getting it right.
But sometimes I think the most meaningful memories aren't the ones we try hardest to create. They're the ones that happen naturally, over and over again, until they quietly become part of childhood. The little things that made a house feel like home.
Those are the ones I've started printing. Not the big moments, those get remembered anyway. The small ones. The ones I'd forget if I didn't.
