Personal Timeline / "Glory Wall"

My sister-in-law Trish puts a timeline for each child on his or her bedroom wall.  This visual timeline shows them what they get to do at various ages throughout their growing up years.  It also provides a great way for you to teach family values and identity.  Since I have a toddler, I figured pictures would work best… so found pictures of:

• ·      my preschool graduation
• ·      steve’s first day of kindergarten
• ·      my dad and I in baptism attire
• ·      little Steve dressed for church
• ·      Steve in soccer uniform (we want to expose them to sports)
• ·      Steve in Boy Scout uniform at a pinewood derby
• ·      me playing the piano (we want our kids to be involved with music)
• ·      Steve as a missionary
• ·      me on my humanitarian trip
• ·      my graduation day from BYU
• ·      Steve and I in front of the temple on our wedding day

So I’ve wanted to implement this idea for a long time but I’ve been putting it off until I had just the right frames and pictures and such.  Blah, Blah, Blah…  Finally, I realized that I’ve just got to get something up or else it will never happen!  I have been amazed already at the impact it is having on Brayden.  I put it up at his eye level in our toy room since we rarely are in his bedroom.  When looking at the picture of Daddy’s mission picture, Brayden says “Daddy help guy in the wawa…. JeJe” when pointing to the man Steve taught and baptized on his mission.  I was so ecstatic!!  That means it’s soaking in that Brayden can be a missionary someday and teach people about Jesus and baptize them in the water!  He saw the picture of Daddy  dressed in his Sunday best carrying his scriptures, and so now Brayden wants to bring his scriptures to church.  We talked about the picture of me in Guatemala helping the little boys in wheelchairs because they couldn’t walk or talk and Brayden said “Mommy help the guys.”  He’s learning the importance of helping those around us!!  He looks at the picture of Daddy (well okay it’s actually Daddy’s brother since that’s the only picture I could find but whatever) at the pinewood derby and now Brayden thinks it’s super cool to be a Boy Scout someday and get to have “cool cars”! 

We’ve only had this up for a week now, but I really think it is SO helpful in teaching identity and giving a sense of confidence and excitement for the future.  Make it fit your family’s values and what you hope your child can do at various ages. 

I’ve also heard of Moms having “Glory Walls” – a place where they display each family member’s achievements, awards, and pictures of their interests and talents.  

Here's a picture frame I already had and pictures I had laying around so I threw it together to show Brayden what he loves to do and what we're all about.  The center picture is Steve and I at the temple.  Brayden pointed to it the other day and said "me go there."  Pictures are such a powerful tool!