In my other Mothers’ Day post, I talked about readjusting my Mama Day expectations. But, I wanted to share what has consistently been my favorite gift on Mother’s Day. (Although I did get a Buzz Lightyear sculpted out of fun tack this year, so that’s pretty tough to beat.)
I started this when my daughter was two, I think, and now I have a collection of these, which I treasure. It’s a simple questionnaire asking questions about me. In the past I’ve had other people help do these with her and fill it out. My biggest advice (because I’ve done Father’s Day ones too) is to NOT ask many guiding questions. Kids, especially young kids, tend to latch on to what you’ve said. For instance, if I say, “What’s Dada’s hair like?” and I start listing too many examples without pausing and just seeing what comes, I could be missing out. I might start listing examples, like dark, light, long, short. And she might just agree and say, “Yeah, light.” But if I just pause, my daughter often comes up with her own very creative descriptions that I hadn’t even thought of, like “Dada’s hair is beautiful.” Make sense?
Other tips:
–I try to make sure to NOT redirect her answers too much or laugh at them. If she says she thinks Dada is 17, I simply write it down. A hundred and ninety years old?- Sure. I don’t want her to get self-conscious about the answers as we go.
–Although it can sometimes be tough for a kid to ever be in the right mood for this kind of stuff, I definitely back off when my daughter seems cranky about it. Or, I sneak some of the questions into our daily conversations and jot them down. “What do you think Dada’s favorite place to go is?” etc.
–Last year, I had used Calligraphr (no “e”) to print out blank font sheets, which I had our daughter fill out. So, when I printed out the questionnaire this year, I was able to print it using her font! (Not shown here) If your child is writing, consider building a custom font for projects like this.
Along with the questionnaire, I print out a blank oval frame for our daughter to draw a portrait. I used to draw little borders around them, etc., but now our daughter likes to do this herself. And while our Pinterest/Facebook world usually loves to have preprinted cutesy things to share online, usually prefer something the kids decorate themselves.
This is such a simple gift, and yet, it brings such happy tears and laughter every year. Whether you’re filling one out for a partner or yourself or pulling aside your friend’s kids to do one for her or him, it’s really so worth it.
(Please feel free to use these PDFs for your own priceless gifts, but please do not sell or share, and please link back. Thank you so much!)
