During the past few blog posts, you’ve seen how I’ve handled organizing photos that have helped me reach back to my great-grandparents while connecting in new ways with my grandmother, mother, and my dad. Scroll to the end to see the links to those blogs. But what about my own children?
Photo Coaching with Young Children
When I began my photo coaching career, I had left the corporate world and had 2 children, ages 2 and 5 as you can see in the photo above.
I had hoped that as a young mother I could start a business that would give me a professional outlet and provide enough income so I could stay home with our children.
In 1998, we were blessed with our 3rd child. As my family grew so did my business. I adjusted to the changing times from printed photos to digital photos in early 2000, now mostly helping clients create digital photo books instead of traditional scrapbook albums.
Organizing Photos with Adult Children
The digital format became wildly popular with the use of smartphones and I added a wonderful new line to my business. In 2015, I selected products and services through the company FOREVER which offers guaranteed safe digital storage for a lifetime, plus at least 100 years, along with digitization and printing.
I showed my clients how to easily digitize all of their precious memories:
- traditional scrapbook albums
- printed photos
- videotapes
- film reels
- slides
- negatives and more
I showed them a system to save, organize and share their memories while enjoying FOREVER as a family project. In 2016, my three children each had their own FOREVER Permanent Storage account to save and organize their most meaningful digital photos and videos, too. The image below gives a good overview of involving a whole family.
We’re able to easily share our virtual albums through the settings we choose in our FOREVER Private Family Network. Look at the benefits:
- digital files stay in full resolution with no compression
- no data mining, no advertising
- we own our storage vs. renting
- current file formats will never become obsolete–at no cost to you or future generations thanks to the FOREVER guarantee fund
What a wonderful way to connect the generations. My children can simply log on to read and see photos of their great-grandparents. My youngest daughter would say, “I love having my family memories in my pocket”. She always has her phone with her so at any time she could relive sweet memories and see how much she is loved.
If you still have shelves filled with scrapbook albums or boxes with old loose pictures, video tapes, slides, and any outdated media files, I’ll show you how to digitize them and organize them little by little. If you have a system, then you can make progress easily in just 15 to 20-minute segments throughout the week. You’ll be amazed at the results you’ll achieve with this consistency over time. We all don’t have big blocks of time, but if we don’t start building our family history, who will?
Researching Family Stories
FOREVER makes it possible to combine our family photos with a story. You can add an unlimited description with any photo, video, audio, document, and other file types.
Why would we do this?
Each of us has a family with a story worth sharing and that story started generations ago. It’s a fun way to tell the stories so your family, your children’s children – and their children know them. Do you need help getting started on your genealogy? Are you stuck or have questions about your family history? If so, schedule to talk with a professional researcher with FOREVER who will guide you on the next step or they can uncover your unique family history for you.
I personally am using FOREVER Family Research to learn about my family history and have discovered so much in the 7 months I have been doing this. Clients of mine have used the service to research family records in countries as diverse as Germany and Colombia.
Benefits of Family Research
Knowing our family identity is important for our well-being and it’s especially important for families caring for foster children and who have adopted children. The history gives a sense of security and shows how each one of us is responsible for passing along our family’s heritage.
Would you like to write your family’s story? Visit the Events page on my website and select an online session to learn from others and just have fun.
I’m Here to Help
Contact me and I’ll gladly share my knowledge in organizing photos or mentoring you if you’re considering a home-based business.
You can try out FOREVER with a free storage account to see the benefits.
Read my whole story in the blogs I wrote earlier this month:
See How I Started My Photo Coaching Career
How to Safely and Easily Digitize Your Family’s Photos and History
The Power of Digitizing Your Family’s Photos and History in Digital Storage