What do you think to the term “making memories” in regard to pretty normal stuff like say soft play or cinema

[JennyTals]

I mean I kinda get it if you’ve been to somewhere wonderful like on a really nice holiday or something

Well for many families a cinema trip or a trip to soft play IS something special, these things are expensive for a lot of people now.

At certain ages the children won’t remember the activities themselves but they will remember the joy of spending time with family.
It’s making memories for the parent doesn’t matter what the activity is.

Some of my best memories are the little things. You never know at the time what the special memories will be but most of them will be day to day.
Holidays and special occasions have to much pressure to be perfect.

I think it’s twee and cringey in any context.

Just live your life and the memories will form.

Vomit inducing under any circumstances unless used ironically.

Nauseating in all circumstances

I don’t think there’s a price limit on making memories. These activities are a treat for a lot of families.

It's a cringy phrase but the concept is a nice one. Spend time with your kids doing fun family things together - that's all it really means, right?

Ditto. Unbearably twee.

It is an awful phrase irrespective of where you have been or what you are doing . IMO , and my children are now adult we took our kids to places that we thought they would enjoy at the time , nothing to do with ‘making memories’ .

I’m not a fan of the phrase. I’ve found that things that my kids remember are the big holidays but also the small things which are out of the ordinary like the day we had our picinc on the living room floor because it rained. So I guess anything which is different for them is something they remember.

It makes me cringe. Typically it's used by those people who (thanks to social media) think they're celebrities in their own lives.

It’s an awful phrase, but…

I have a friend who had an unbearably abusive upbringing. She used the term quite a bit when we were out and about with our kids. She helped me see that actually for her she was building memories not only for her kids, but for her, that a) she was doing a good job as a parent b) that her kids were experiencing happiness in a way that she wasn’t able to. C) that she was building those memories now. Right now in that moment.

It made me less cynical. More understanding. And less of a snide arsehole. (Hopefully)

Awful. I don’t do things with DC so they will remember them. I do them because we’ll enjoy them now.

It's a silly term to use anyway but I just see it as a replacement to "spending time"
Kids won't always remember what you do. We've done some amazing holidays and all the dc might remember is that they saw a crab or a chicken in a tree.
Carry on making memories and spending time because that's what matters, whatever it's called.

Purposely 'making memories' by doing things just so you can remember them afterwards seems a bit arse-about-face to me. Surely the whole point in doing something is that you enjoy it whilst you are actually doing it?

If it is that much fun, you/the kids will remember bits of it anyway, and if it isn't - who wants to remember that?

We never used the sickly phrase in my childhood or when I was a young parent but the memories are and were still there whether it was a cinema trip, walk in the woods or an actual holiday.

It makes me want to heave wherever it’s applied - which is OTT I know, but apart from thinking it’s naff, it speaks to me of not being in the moment - having an instagram brain. If something is memorable you will remember it, you don’t need to plan on that basis.

I think it’s just for their social media posts ! Everyone’s sees it for what it is.

Well yes whenever you do anything you are literally making future memories.
I like the way even if things aren’t that great at the time, like a holiday or a day out where things aren’t perfect and delightful at the time or you don’t really feel like going, you can still end up with some lovely photos or an amusing anecdote a few months later.

It was some comment about when you xxxxx you are not spending money
you’re buying memories

Making memories is a bit of a cliched phrase like live love, laugh.
But I remember all the small things I did with my mother that I loved before she married my stepfather and nobody ever did anything with me again because I wasn't wanted in their marriage.
Even worse she claims not to remember the things we did together like our holiday to the seaside.
But I remember them and they were precious memories to me however small. There were no more happy memories after she married him.

I think people should be able to talk about something as innocuous as "making memories" with their kids without being judged on what those memories are, or what language they've chosen to use (someone actually said they found it "nauseating" 🙄) but hey ho.

As for the memories themselves, most of what I remember from my kids being tiny is the everyday normal stuff like going to the supermarket or singing along to nursery rhymes in the car or playing in the paddling pool in the back garden. We're not loaded so the big stuff like holidays and fancy day trips have been few and far between (or non existent) some years. I think people are allowed to treasure the everyday stuff and I can't for the life of me figure out why that would be problematic for anyone else.

It’s a horrible cringey phrase, but check your privilege!
They are still expensive days out for a lot of families and are therefore an occasional special treat/day making memories with their children.

It's twee and not something I'd say myself but it's not something I can get myself worked up about