I've gotten a lot of parenting advice over the years. It's hard not to get parenting advice. In fact, all you need to get buckets of parenting advice is a child standing within 12 feet of you. Or upwind. It's a pretty even mix of good advice, great advice, outdated advice, and advice from people who have only ever read books about parenting. There is one piece of advice that I always took to heart. That was to keep a journal of all the crazy crap that my kids do. It was always followed with the emphatic phrases "because you forget!" or "I wish I had written those things down".

This never really panned out for me. I'm just not a journal writing person. I've bought a dozen beautifully bound journals over the years but never really gotten past page two. It's just not my nature. I let the idea go by the wayside but it occurred to me that maybe there was another way to work it out.

This weekend I set up a very professional gmail account for both kids. I'm gambling on the fact that gmail will be around for the next 15 years. This email will be great for them to use on resumes and when giving their email address to other professionals (I hope).

I thought how funny it would be if I sent them an email. That's when it occurred to me that it wouldn't be funny, it would be awesome! This is how I could solve my journal problem. I can't get together to write in a paper journal but I write emails all the time. It would only take a few seconds to send an email, heck I could even attach pictures. Then someday, when they are old enough I'll hand over the reigns to the email account and all that it contains. I figure even if I can write something once a month it will still be a wonderful keepsake.

I'm certainly not at a loss for crazy stories that need to be remembered for posterity. A few of them have made their way onto this blog. Alice is racking up her fair share as well. Are you bad at parent journaling? Try this out!