How would you like one solution that could work for several problems that might be of concern to you?  Believe it or not, such a remedy is available.

First, however, let’s list some typical problems.  Is it becoming increasingly difficult to keep your children (or grandchildren) constructively occupied as the summer goes on and you have used up your best ideas?  Do your children have messy drawers and closets?  Are your children’s beds cluttered underneath? Are boxes of family photos and your children’s school papers piling up?  Do you feel that important papers and many items of value are being lost or damaged in your house?  Do your children save everything, whether it’s any good or not?

Are you searching for gifts for your children that could surprise and delight them and be both low in cost and high in value?  

Here’s a solution to the above problems: create a treasure chest or keepsake box for each of your children. You can be clever and come up with some type of real “treasure chest,” or you can settle for a sturdy storage container available at stores such as Target or Office Max. Label and decorate it, or not, according to your style.  Then begin filling it with items such as a baby book, a Book of Remembrance, the outfit he or she was named and blessed in, a few selected school papers, samples of art work, other important papers and photos (in manila envelopes for each year of the child’s life), a cherished doll or teddy bear, a favorite toy, souvenirs from trips, a merit badge laden Scout shirt, or treasured items from grandparents and great grandparents. Then continue to add items as ones that are suitable for such a special place come along over the years.

Such a keepsake box does much more than make a safe place available for valuables; it also gives children a deep sense of security. In order to have hopes and dreams for the future, you need some memories of the past.  Someone expressed this thought well by stating, “As parents we should give our children roots and wings.” A treasure chest can provide the roots.

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Daryl will be participating at BYU Education Week, August 18-21. She will speak each day of the conference from 12:30-1:25 p.m. in room 2107 of the Jesse Knight Building.

Special request to readers: I’m looking for personal stories or examples related to home management and family living that illustrate the validity of the following:  In connection with a sacrament talk on repentance, the speaker said, “We often view repentance as a slow process. It isn’t. Change is spontaneous. It is not changing that takes so much time.”

Please send your experiences or observations to me at ask@theartofhomemaking.com.

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