I read an article recently about a single Dad. When his boy was three years old he told his little boy that he was going to build him a castle to create memories in. I was very touched by that. Then I read that his little boy would ask him to play catch and the Dad was too busy building the castle to play catch with his son.(less touched now) He kept telling his son that he was building the castle for memories. I guess he didn’t realize that little boys make memories just playing catch with their Dad.

The Dad is now putting the castle up for sale to the tune of 14.8 million dollars. If he sells it, at least his son will not have to worry about how to pay for his college, but I am still thinking he totally missed out on the making memories part.

This story reminds me of the craze of scrap booking. When my kids were little Creative Memories was all the rage. I took loads and loads of cute pictures of my little ones. One day I decided I was going to start scrap booking and I really got into it. In fact I was so absorbed I completely forgot that it was my turn to pick up my kids and the neighbor kids from school. (Oops!) That was the last day that I scrap booked. I decided that if anything absorbed me to that extent it was not to be indulged.

I remember a writer’s conference I went to where another writer was writing a book about scrap booking. She asked me if I did that. I told her, “No, I was too busy making memories with my children at the present time to stop and record every memory.”

Scrap booking is a wonderful hobby and it is a very creative way to show your children that you love them and cherish the memories that you have created. However, if it absorbs your time and attention to the point where the scrap booking is more important than making memories that are not photo op presentations, you may be building a castle that doesn’t hold any memories.