How to make childhood magical?

[Shopperami]

What type of things do you do with the kids to make their childhood magical?

Is there places you take them which are magical?

Or little things at a home?

Anything else?

I spent a lot of time with my niece and we would regularly go to the woods and look for fairies. We would make up stories about the magical creatures we envisioned living there and run over bridges before the troll grabbed us. She is now a teenager but still talks about those times and says she believed in magic for so so long because of me lol

I didn't have an amazing childhood tbh but remember enjoying Father Christmas and the tooth fairy, times my mum would surprise me with a present or time together...

I spend a lot of time with my children (we home educate) and tbh I don't think they really appreciate time with me like I did with my mum because I'm always there! And things like playing board games with them that I remember her doing maybe 3 times, we do daily.

I try to do more seasonal/"holiday" things with my kids than I did too, like Easter egg hunts and Halloween stuff because I never had that but wished I did!

Occasionally I stick on an old Paul Daniels video. Will that do?

My magical childhood memory was when mum decided we should have a barbecue in the backyard on xmas day. Freezing cold but so warm around the fire eating bbq chicken wings. Feeling loved, safe, looked after and listened to with some fun moments thrown in would be my idea of a magical childhood

I’m going to go against the grain here and say my most magical
Memories of childhood ARE the holidays. Lots of time together, fun places, fish and chips, buying tat. I remember that much more than the every day stuff

Occasionally I stick on an old Paul Daniels video. Will that do?

Not a lot!

Honestly I take my kids to different places. Yesterday we went to a art museum for the day. Spontaneity is important. In the summer I have taken the kids swimming and to the beach.
We also get out the art supplies and make cards and artwork at Christmas and Easter too. Our family have a weekly movie night and we are thinking of starting a family quiz night in January. Also we go to church once a week for a service.
On Saturday morning we made fruitcake as a holiday treat. That night I let my eldest girl invite a couple of her close pals round for a sleepover party. It’s amazing how much fun you can have once you stop worrying about money. My eldest girl loves to design posters and flyers on her laptop which I print out. She also loves to use her camera to snap pictures of animals on walks in the countryside as a family.

Magical? Disney holidays, more Disney, Harry Potter theme parks, elf on the shelf, massive piles of Christmas presents, giving kids latest i-phone, spending lots of money on them basically

That should do it

Childhood "magic" is big business ....

Magical? Don't talk bollocks.

Love them, spend time with them.

The end.

Stopping to look. When a moment presents itself, taking it rather than rushing on to do whatever it is you "should" be doing. Occasionally saying yes instead of no, we haven't got time. Writing tiny little letters from the tooth fairy.

Nature was really magical to me as a child. I loved the seasons and the sky, deserted beaches and skinny dipping.

I've done every day out or trip possible. Dd's (teen) favourite memories are: her splashing me in the sea, us climbing trees and finding dinosaur bones (big logs) in the forest and seeing a birds nest. The birds nest was at Stonehenge!! She doesn't remember the sodding stones!! Don't take them places, be there. Don't read the book, be the characters. Eat lunch in a tent in the garden and have 'midnight' feasts at 9pm with all the lights out. Just be fun, have fun, be there.

My DS is due to have his first DC in 3 weeks and I guess he's been thinking about becoming a dad. Going to baby classes, reading lots of books (one amazing one published just for new dads).

Recently we were talking about his childhood (his DW is absolutely besotted with him and loves hearing about his childhood) and he said that the best memory of his childhood was feeling absolutely safe and secure in our family along with extended family, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends staying over.

Not one mention of anything materialistic, holidays, etc.

JustlikeDevon. Exactly the type of things we used to do. Along with pretending his pound puppy (accidently left at the Drs.) had found his own way home from the Drs.

Looking back, I think he really did have a magical childhood.

We spend a lot of time outside and the dc have a lot of freedom to play out (luckily we are rural so this feels safe).

I think that living in time with the seasons is quite magical - so feeding lambs on a friend's farm in spring, playing in the river in summer, walking to the local church through the woods for carols at Christmas and so on.

We are lucky that we are financially able to indulge the dc in their interests - so we can go to London for the weekend to visit a certain museum or whatever. We have had a few holidays that were quite magical. Taking the dcs to Egypt to go into the great pyramid was brilliant. Next year we are going to see a rainforest which I hope will be magical.

We do some mad little things too. When I was pregnant I hid a number of things around our garden for the dc to discover when older - a tree with tiny windows and a door, a stone dragon in a nest, and a circle of tiny stone goblins. It was lovely when the dc found them. We also write tiny notes from their household fairy detailing her adventures and providing artefacts (fairy dust, dragon's tooth etc). I am certain that 7yo dd1 at least knows this is not necessarily real but she enjoys it.

Discovering bluebell woods for the first time had a massive impact on my DD, and turning over rocks in rock pools, and snorkeling in the sea. Freedom + independent discovery of local nature = magical childhood IMHO. No need to make it too 'try-hard' our natural world is a wonderful place as it is.

Dancing uninhibitedly round the kitchen with them music on full blast, singing together on car journeys, letting them make dens in the house (making a mess!), watching Dr Who together in the dark with a hot chocolate, ice cream in the park after school on a hot day, cuddles, tickles and tea and toast in bed together on a Sunday morning, maiing up silly peoms together, reading stories with 'dramatic' character voices. These are the things I find magical as their Mum, time will tell if they look back on them the same.

I have loads of fond memories of all the many traditions we had:

Half birthdays (my brother was born at Christmas) We still celebrate them now!

St Martins Day walking around the local area singing with a candle in a paper lantern when it got dark

On Halloween making toads eyes sweets and setting up a witches den, apple bobbing, carving a mound of flour etc

Guy Fawkes night baking parkin and having fireworks, indoor ones if it was raining (actually I don't agree with 'garden' fireworks these days but it was special for me at the time.)

German traditions at Christmas. Us kids were all born in Germany so brought the best traditions over with us (St Nicolas coming on the 6th, traditional wooden tree decs and a weihnachtspyramide, lots of candles, singing around the tree, German baking, traditional picture calendars etc) as well as celebrating on Christmas Day

Traditional German Easter too, with Easter baskets full of special little presents outside each bedroom door and chocolate eggs hidden by the Osterhase. We'd paint eggs and grow cress heads and dye hard boiled eggs and bake chocolate nests, all that stuff too. In the afternoons we'd have an outdoor chocolate egg hunt organised by our parents too, with a list so as to make it fair.

A goodybag of surprises handed to each of us when we were half way on our journey going on holiday

Hiring a boat and going out for the day as a family on holiday

Spending time together on the beach

Teddy bears picnics in the garden in summer, with teddy bear shaped ham and cheese, pom bear crisps etc

Family bike rides at the weekend

Saturday nights. During the week we ate earlier but on Saturdays we'd get dressed up and stay up late and eat a fancy meal all together with candles and music

Playing together. With a huge playroom and garden, mountains of good quality toys and a brother and a sister it didn't matter that we didn't have TV!

All those things felt really magical even if they sound ordinary reading them out. I guess what really shines for me was all the extra things my mum did, despite being chronically ill. All the effort she went to really showed how much she loved us.

making and poems!

The most 'magical' things about my childhood were the little things that made me feel loved - coming home from school at lunchtime & my gran would have a table all ready for you with your lunch on it, my mum turning the electric blanket on my bed without telling me so it was all cosy when you got in it, my dad always being interestrd in our hobbies & being prepared to come ice skating/horse riding/whatever we were into with us.
This thread has really reminded me its the little things that count :)

I think for me it's been about taking the best bits of my own childhood and adding in new experiences/traditions of my own and a bit of imagination.

You can't make life magical all the time though...it's about the little moments, and maybe the occasional grand gesture thrown in imho.

Little things...blackberry picking, sledging, rockpooling and then cooking sausages for breakfast on a bbq at the beach, taking a bit of extra time to write DD letters from Santa, elves, the tooth fairy as well as stuffing stockings or sticking a quid under her pillow. 'Camping' in the sitting room the first night the Christmas tree went up with films and hot chocolate.

Big things...I always wanted her to have more exposure to culture and experiences than I did (due too a combo of finances and mum having some MH issues) so as much as I'm able to I've taken her on lots of trips to museums, galleries and shows.

Also doing hands on stuff with her...turning the kitchen into a toiletries factories and making bath bombs, soap, face masks and lip balms. My own mum was (and still is) very mess averse so that was fun for me too.

DD is 14 now and this year I made her an advent calendar for the first time which given her age she was surprisingly chuffed with!

I set aside time where DD has me exclusively and I tell her regularly that I love her.
We have not an easy time in periods and it is definitely not about 'magic'. It is safety, security, love and your time. Sadly DD's Dad has failed to provide this so she no longer really sees him.

I think a lot of parents forget that childhood is already magical to children because they’re experiencing everything for the first time. They don’t remember the big expensive holidays or constant days out, it’s the little things that make them feel loved like baking cakes, dogging in the garden etc.

CLEARLY I MEANT digging there. Dogging in the garden would introduce a whole different work of magic

DS (7) remembers a jeep ride and a trip to the market from a foreign holiday when he was 3. We tend to alternate abroad with camping in the UK. Various sand "castles" get mentionned too. His Sphinx was last year's favourite. There's a place we love in the UK with a stream running through the beach which is amazing for dams and moats.

Some of my magical parenting highlights this year include the day we took 2 hours to walk home from school (200m away) because we diverted off into the woods and they had a good Enid Blyton style romp including finding a home made rope swing. They are forever collecting sticks. Being pulled to school on a sledge, and a brilliant afternoon sledging in the park. They had months of play out of a large toilet box. We had a random night camping locally in the last couple of days of the holidays, with a fire in the BBQ. DS2 struggled to go to sleep so I let him out of the tent, and we lay on the picnic blanket gazing at the milky way which was the best I've seen for years. This year on our main holiday, they were old enough to have a good free-range romp with other children on the campsite. They're the kind of moments when I look at my kids and feel content that I'm doing all right

I didn't have much freedom as a child, but a big garden with lots of bushes to lurk in and a head full of books was pretty amazing.

Magic needs space and time to grow, and then it pops up. Creating and expecting it doesn't work. We are busy and do a lot, but we also keep good chunks of time free for spontaneity and imagination to bloom.