When my son and I parted for the first time, I had fully intended that he would be going with me. So in the interest of keeping him connected with his dad and family, I created a photo box for him.
I bought the box… a cardboard photo box with a lid. I sat him down on the newspaper covered floor with paint and let him decorate the box to his heart’s content. He painted some brilliant artwork on that box! 🙂
Then we filled it with photos of all of this family members. He was so young that I mounted them on a foam background and laminated the fronts with self adhesive laminating sheets so that he could handle them without damaging them. His photo collection became a tactile experience of love.
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The box finally wore out, he loved it so. So for his 4th birthday, I bought him another one and let him paint it. He took that one back to his dad’s house with him filled with all of his precious pictures and we keep the old one at my house.
Update 2020 : My son is 21 now and he still has the box of photos. It became a cherished possession and keepsake. Over the years, he added to it with photos of friends. There are some higher tech options of gifts to keep in touch these days but this one is close to our hearts.