An idea that I love that I learned about years ago from the amazing storyteller Ali Edwards is the Day in the Life project. This project helps you slow down and see all of the little things that are happening in your day. The things that we skim over or deem as unimportant.
Watching my kids drive out of the driveway together is something that I now do every school morning. It used to be me that took them, but now they’re on their own. I love their independence and am proud of their growth, but I do miss those times in the car together. Just 2 years ago I was taking all three to school. Things change before you even realize it…soon this girl above will be living in the dorms somewhere and I won’t be seeing her off to school every morning. I’ll miss watching her walk out with her hydro and her multiple bags for school and sports. Things change without us even realizing it.
This project was a great exercise for me at this point in our lives. Three kids in high school, heavily involved in athletics…and it’s dark all the time right now. The photos aren’t great, and I don’t get to see the kids during the day as much as I did when they were little, but it’s a good slice of our lives.
The sixteen images above tell a random story of an ordinary day in our lives right now. It shows that I still put their vitamins out every morning, that my youngest is now too tall to see himself in the bathroom mirror (I had no idea until I took the photo), that my oldest has very few classes everyday and often comes home early and this day brought himself Taco Bell. It shows that we have a full driveway and that we have too many TVs in one room (that’s a story for another day). It shows that we’re in the thick of basketball season and that I still have one kid that I need to drive to his events. I love this little slice of our lives.
TIPS FOR DOCUMENTING A DAY IN THE LIFE
Tell you kids that you’re planning on doing this the day before. Let them know why you’re taking photos of seemingly random and silly things.
Get creative with your angles…I love the photo of my son and his Taco Bell haul from above and the big glass of Carnation Instant Breakfast that my youngest asked me to make for him.
Enlist your kids. I knew that I wouldn’t have many opportunities to take photos of the kids, so I let my daughter know that I would be grabbing a screenshot of her “gameday streaks” that she posts on Snapchat on gamedays. The rules in your home may be different and that’s great, you need to do what it good for your family. In my home, my children have social media and I love it. I love having a Snapchat account that I can grab images from that my kids post when needed. We send “streaks” to each other every day and it’s a fun little connection to each other’s lives.
Get photos of the little stuff…fixing their hair in the mirror, them walking to the car, what the house looks like, their bedrooms, etc.
Set a timer for yourself - I often tell myself I’m going to do this project and forget about it in the morning and realize they’ve been at school for 3 hours. Or when they’re home I forget again. Set a timer to go off every hour to remind yourself to get up and grab a photo of something going on right then.
Have you ever tried this project? I love it and think that it’s something I want to incorporate into our lives every couple of months…it’s amazing to see how fast the little things in life change.
xo,
c