[Parenting Essay] #10 That Is How You Can Savor the Joy of a Single Photo Twice or Even Three Times

The days since our child was born
have been dizzyingly fast.

Crying, laughing, rolling over,
speaking for the first time...

Each and every event
may seem like a small thing,

but they are all moments
I want to etch deeply into my heart if I can.

How to preserve those "irreplaceable moments"
has been an important theme

for our family as well,
for a long time.

In our home,

ever since our eldest daughter Icchan was born, we have been
"using a photo and video sharing service called "Mitene".
continuously.

We haven't signed up for the premium version, so
there are limitations such as videos being restricted to 2 minutes,
but that's fine.

Even so, it is sufficiently convenient,
and I feel it is a very helpful service.

I imagine there are many other
parenting families using it in the same way.

What is most helpful is

not having to send photos and videos
to each relative individually.

Grandparents, siblings, and others,

whenever they feel like "I want to take a look,"
they can open "Mitene",

enjoy the photos and videos,
and even leave comments.

Both my wife and I take photos and videos of our children
quite often, so

Even just uploading them
is quite a chore,

but I feel the benefits outweigh the effort.

With the standard plan of "Mitene," you can choose the sharing scope from two options:
"Visible only to administrators (my wife and me)" or
"Visible to the whole family."

In our home, a natural division of roles has emerged,

and I am the one in charge of
uploading everything to "Visible only to administrators."

I leave comments from time to time, but
for the most part, I leave that to my wife.

On the other hand, my wife not only uploads
the photos and videos she takes,

but she is also almost entirely responsible for changing the settings to "Visible to the whole family"
and handling the interactions in the comments.

Furthermore,"we also make use of a square photo printing service called "ALBUS"
.

It is a service where you can print photos for free for up to 8 sheets per month
(24 yen per sheet from the 9th sheet onwards + 242 yen for shipping).
It is a service for printing photos.

When we only had our first child, Icchan,
we used to print 9 sheets every month.

Since our second daughter, Tsu-chan, was born,
we added one more page, increasing the number of photos to 15.

Our family lives a minimalist lifestyle
on a daily basis, but

when it comes to "memories,"
we have decided to prioritize spending both time and money.

There is also a division of labor
for the ordering process of "ALBUS".

My wife is in charge of the most difficult task,
which is "narrowing down 15 candidates from a huge number of photos."

My role is to check those candidate photos,
give the OK, or suggest replacements.

Honestly, my wife carries a heavy burden, but

since I also handle other "labor-intensive tasks"

like keeping the household budget,
I feel like the balance is maintained.

And so, the photos arrive every month.

However, from here on,
another mountain of fun awaits.

Writing a short comment on each photo that arrives,
(I've taken this on as my own responsibility)

and looking back on the month,
writing messages to each of the children
is a task that awaits.

This is something my wife and I each write
to each of our children individually.

"Not urgent, but
important (things I think are)"

is how this task is classified.

To be honest,

Writing comments for photos is
not caught up even on a yearly basis.

However, the time spent working on them all at once is
surprisingly fun.

While looking back at "Mitene",

I immerse myself in memories, thinking,
"Ah, that's how it was at that time," or

sometimes, I look back on them together
with my wife and Icchan.

That is how you can enjoy the joy of a single photo
two or three times over.

I really love this time.

Daily life passes by in the blink of an eye.

The children change a little bit every day.

That is precisely why I want to cherish
preserving things in photos, videos, and words.

I definitely want to value that.

Of course, I am not able to keep it up perfectly,

and it often ends up being delayed.

Even so, I think that the very act of deciding to "preserve" them,

and gradually giving them shape,

is an important practice for our family.

Memories,

are not just about "taking and saving" them,

but become richer by "looking back, adding words, and sharing" them.

I want to continue enjoying that kind of time

together with my family.

I hope that the moms and dads who read this essay,

won't feel burdened,

but instead think, "Maybe I'll try doing that a little bit from now on,"

or "Maybe I'll try doing this a little bit again,"

and feel a sense of ease.

Within our means, starting with what we can, right?

Our family, too, has had many setbacks and clashes,

Through steady, incremental progress,
I have managed to reach this point.

↓ Articles linked within this essay

↓ I took a look back at my first month of posting on note.
If you are engaging with note in your own way but are feeling a bit tired, please give this a read.

↓ This is the “learning-focused essay” that has received the most likes among my recent essays. It also includes introductions to parenting books and articles by other note creators.