As I was looking through an old picture album the other day I ran across a memory! Now I know that's a strange way of looking at a picture but that's exactly what pictures are, memories. They are memories of a time in the past, whether yesterday or a collection of many yesterdays!  

  The memory I discovered from my album was of my grandpa telling me a story. That picture brought back to my mind many other pictures and a collection of memories of many stories. These pictures and stories I call my personal picture collection. We all have these collections. They can be both good and bad but I prefer to remember the good ones.

  I also have to ask myself what picture collections have I helped develop for my kids and grandkids. How do I use the opportunities I have to connect with my children during the ordinary moments of each day?  

  A few days ago I noticed my youngest son with a jar of pickles. As I watched him eating them I was reminded of how he has always loved pickles, and after eating them he'd wipe his hands in his hair. Of course the pickle juice would make his hair stick straight up in fine spikes. It was an incredible sight to see! My son beamed when I told him this story. He has now added that picture to his personal collection. I discovered that by telling him this "you were so cute" story let him know that I love him.  

  What we say or the stories we tell about our children demonstrates how we feel about them.  If we tell a friend or relative about the bad thing that our child did, the bad mark he got at school, the awful thing he did to his brother, and the child is within earshot, he gets the feeling that we don't think very highly of him. This is not the impression we desire and it's certainly not the picture collection we wish to leave him.

  Just for the sake of developing another picture, go through a photo album and see a picture of a happy moment. Take it out and put it on the fridge. Let the photo remind you to tell the right kind of stories and remind your kids how much you love them.

  Life may be hectic but you can bless your child in mere moments and impact their lives with wonderful picture memories that will last a lifetime and strengthen the bond between you and your child.

  Remember the saying, "Belief is the thermometer that regulates what we accomplish." When we know we are loved for who we are and not for what we've done, we are armed with the ability to be more than we've been and do more than we've done!

 
  There is another saying that is quite perplexing that I would like to share with you, but you must put some thought with this one! "I am not who I think I am. I am not who you think I am. I am who I think you think I am!"

  May we bless our children with pictures and stories that enable them to realize that we think they are the greatest and thusly prepare them for being the greatest! As Gertrude Ellgas once wrote: When doubts and fears are growing, it's hard to keep on going from day to day not knowing just what the end will be.

  So take each day as you find it. If things go wrong don't mind it, for each day leaves behind it a chance to start anew!"

Darrell Ryan is the director of curriculum for the Big Spring Independent School District.