How to Have an Amazing Summer: Make Memories

by Desi Ash

Outside of travel soccer, sports camps, and some sort of educational camp, summer for my family meant at least one fun filled vacation. Those family vacations led to lots of memories:

·        The time I learned the word soda

·        The time my brother drove the van completely out of gas

·        The many summers spent trying to conquer my fear of heights at Cedar Point

·        The summer I became deathly afraid of escalators

·        Or the time I thought I lost my brother at the campgrounds

The memories are endless. They are fun to reminisce and share with others.  They remind me of times when cellphones and computers didn’t get in the way of our interactions.

Last summer Pixar released the movie Inside Out. This movie takes viewers inside the mind of an eleven year old girl and shows how emotions advise her throughout her daily life. Viewers see how memories are made and stored and how after some time are forgotten. While Pixar’s Inside Out is a film for children, there is some truth in the psychology behind it. Our brains do store memories (sensory, short-term, and long-term) and over time those memories are forgotten.

Our daily lives are building the memories we will have for a lifetime. Another way to have an amazing summer is to make memories.

This summer take advantage of more freedom; of later bedtimes and fewer practices, and no last minute big projects due in the morning. Make making memories a priority for your family. Close the laptop, silence the cellphone, shut off the TV and interact together.

To make memories, one doesn’t need to pack up and leave home. You can make memories in your own backyard. 

·        Hop on Pinterest and find a fun DIY project! Even if you fail the laughter and together-ness will make a fun memory.

·        Pick a day and every week go get ice cream together.

·        Pull out all the blankets and make a fort!

·        Break a rule that you normally have! Eat dessert before dinner, better yet, have dessert for dinner.

Spend time together as a family laughing and having fun. Don’t miss this phase of summer to put your family first and make memories.

The memories formed this summer will last. Do you want those to be memories of everyone interacting with a screen or everyone together laughing until they pee their pants?