Will you be a mother who's remembered fondly by your children when they're grown? Will you be a mother who affects their lives in ways they'll recall with love and laughter?

A family can be close and create fond memories by sharing and doing things together. However, it's often to the mother that the task falls of initiating family activities and pleasures her children will engage in with their children in future years.

Incidents From Your Childhood

Do you recall incidents and traditions from your childhood you want to share with your children and create a feeling of family continuity?

I realize now that Mother often must have had work to do. But she took time from her busy day as a farmwife for walks and picnics with us four children, doughnut making feasts, story sessions at bedtime, swimming in the brook in summer, and listening to us and talking with us when we had problems or secrets to share.

Looking back, I never remember her remarking, "No, I'm too busy," although she must have said it many times. The memorable times we shared together far overshadowed the times she had to refuse.

Fun With Your Family

My daughter and I engaged in some of these activities as I shared with her my childhood experiences. It helps to bring a continuity to the generations as a child realizes he/she's sharing in a long line of family traditions.

Just possibly the enjoyment of these childhood activities and family highlights will be remembered by their children when they have families of their own. I've heard my daughter say to her son and daughter, "When I was little, I used to do this...just like Nanny and Great Grandma did."

As I look around the happy faces at my husband's family reunions, I realize that it was mainly because of my mother-in-law's efforts that the family now has many memories to bind them together.

Families Need Sense of Belonging

Families need a sense of belonging, a sense of doing things together that makes them part of a long line of families. In these days, when the family unit is battered on all sides, it's often the mother who can do so much to make for her family a haven at home, a place of happiness and security, a place which will stir fond memories as the children recall the incidents that formed their lives because of
their memorable mother.

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(Mary Emma Allen has been writing cooking columns for 30 years. She also writes children's stories and gives programs for children. Her latest work is a coloring book to accompany her anthology of children's stories, "Tales of Adventure & Discovery."

Visit her web site: http://homepage.fcgnetworks.net/jetent/mea; e-mail: me.allen@juno.com