NOTE: A link to a free printable is included in this blog post!

My signature product is the Family Journal, and I loved adapting it to the Senior Photo Book.  Why?  Because I think we miss too many important ah-ha! moments in life when we pass over the details.  God loves us, and he proves it in the details!  These books are designed to help families and seniors slow down and reflect on the details that are shaping their identity and character.  The good, the difficult, the seemingly mundane, and the hilarious.  Besides, if our kids can learn how to reflect on experiences rather than just simply collect them, they’ll be much more ready for the adult world!

This is so important that I’m going to give you some of the questions from the Senior Photo Book for your graduate to go over.  If you want, you can download a free printable (linked below) and mount it to cardboard or foam board and prop it up on your display table for your graduation party!

Oh, and if you have younger kids, keep reading because I have some great ideas below to help reinforce their confidence and character (especially through those awfully awkward years)!

• Name and Nickname(s):
• Best Friend(s):
• How/where I spend most of my time:
• Things I say a lot:
• My gifts/talents/skills/strengths:
• Hashtags that describe me:
• What hashtags would describe your family?
• What hashtags would describe your high school experience?
• Whom can you always turn to for good advice?
• What made you laugh the most during high school?
• What turned out differently than you expected?
• What are you most looking forward to after graduation?
• What do you want to be when you grow up?

More Resources for Seniors

• Pinterest Board: Graduation Parties
• Free printable: Senior Questionnaire

Younger Kids

This is the age you get younger kids into habits of responsibility.  This is the age that behavior is constantly reinforced or redirected.  This is also the age when they start understanding abstract ideas about the world around them – you know, the things that get harder and harder to define to a 4 year old, but the 6-8 year olds are asking about them all the time!  Take advantage of their growing awareness of abstract concepts and start bringing their attention to their character qualities and personality traits that make them uniquely you!  If you’re familiar with Joanna Gaines’ story (from the HGTV show Fixer Upper), you know that as she was discovering her path to interior design after a college degree in something totally unrelated, she started recalling herself at this young age and seeing the tendencies that were already popping up then.

More Resources for Young Kids

• Printable Character Chart  – it’s like a chore chart, but for rewarding character strengths; comes with kid-friendly definitions of the character qualities on the chart (by Hooked Design House)
• Archer Journal – a kid friendly hard-bound journal to cultivate quiet time habits, create meaningful conversations, and more (by Intentional Home; buy 1, get 1 free when you by from their shop directly!)

Don’t Forget Your Tween

What are you thinking?  Either, ‘Ugh. That’s such a hard age,” or “It is amazing to watch that age really start to express who they are!” or…  “What an awkward stage!”  Personally, I think tweens are awesome.  I have one, and I’ve worked with them at the professional level.  Tweens are incredible!

But it’s at this awesome-emerging-identity-but-still-as-awkward-as-an-oversized-puppy stage that their confidence can be shaped.  It can be hit hard or bolstered.  Most adults can point back to their tween years to identify something that shaped their passion to jettison them toward their success or that rocked their confidence and cemented their fears that they are always trying to overcome.

Please be a part of shaping their passion and celebrating their identity!  Start pointing out to them their character, strengths, gifts, and talents.  Think of positive words that describe them and tell them!  Help them look past their uncertainty and awkwardness so they can start to discover all the nuances that make them incredible!

You can definitely use a lot of the questions from the senior questionnaire.  AND… Here are some more questions to keep you going:

• Some of my favorite things are:
• What was hard for me this year?
• ­What did I enjoy the most this year?
• What did I learn?
• What verse is important to me right now?
• What I hope to do in the next couple years?

More Resources for Tweens and Young Teens

• Pinterest Board – As I come across more resources for tweens and young teens (since I have one), I’ll pin them to my Pinterest board, beTWEEN us.
• Blog – I have also come across a fun blog called Sunshine and Hurricanes that has a bucket-load of great ideas and resources for young kids, tweens, and teens!