How To Save Memories of Lockdown Life

No one knows quite how or when the pandemic will end, but one thing is for sure: we’ll all be talking about these months for the rest of our lives. But how much will you remember? And how much will the kids remember? Here are seven ways to keep track of daily lockdown life that’ll help your family look back on this period later in life.

If you’re lucky enough to have a garden, then making and burying a time capsule can be a lot of fun. All you need is a metal tin, like an old biscuit box. Fill it up with items that best reflect our times. You might include, for example, newspaper cuttings, a test-and-trace leaflet, an old facemask, or an NHS rainbow. You can also throw in some more personal items, like a photo of the family and a written account of who you all are and your hopes for the future. Seal the box, and bury it somewhere in the garden away from roots and flower beds. You can mark the site, if you want to be reminded to dig it up in a few years, or else you could leave it unmarked and leave things to the fates. Perhaps it’ll sit there for decades or centuries before someone chances across it! Time capsules are a really tangible way to talk to kids about the passage of time and generations, and the importance of documenting history. 

If you don’t have a garden, you can still have lots of fun making a time capsule. Simply hide it away at the back of a cupboard, deep under the bed, or some other place that rarely sees the light of day. Hopefully, you’ll forget all about it and have a pleasant surprise a few years hence.

We all accumulate little scraps of everyday stuff -- receipts, cards, leaflets. They normally end up in the bin. But what today seems like rubbish will one day be a fascinating glimpse into lockdown life. Scrapbooking is another way you can pull all this stuff together in one place. Encourage your kids to take the lead on the project, looking out for any scraps of paper that might be worth saving. This could be practical, official stuff like medical information, or government information leaflets. Or projects you’ve worked on over lockdown like drawings, paintings or homework print-outs. Be sure to pepper the scrapbook with photos from the lockdown periods. The kids can also fill the blank space with anecdotes and stories about their current life.

Older children might not be so keen on scrapbooking, but you could instead record these days in a written diary. If they’re old enough, the kids can take the lead on this, writing each day’s entry. Alternatively, you can author the diary, asking each family member in turn what they’d like to record of the day. The digitally minded family might also consider recording their diary as a vlog (either private or public). 

One quick-win way to record an impressionistic insight into your lockdown life is to compile lists of stuff you’ve done. Every movie you’ve watched, for example. Where you’ve been on your daily walk. What recipes you’ve cooked. Which people you’ve spoken to on video calls. New words the kids learned during lockdown. Anything you like, really. Keep the list safe in your lockdown diary or scrapbook, or place it into a time capsule for someone else to one day find.

This simple craft project will give you a sentimental keepsake for the rest of your lives. Draw round the hand of everyone in your household, preferably onto different colours of card. Cut them out and assemble onto some backing card. You can then date and frame the piece to give you a colourful decoration that’ll forever remind you of your young family during lockdown. My own is pictured above. 

We all have a lot of thoughts rattling round our heads at the moment. When will this all be over? How at risk are my family? What’s going to happen to my job? Will missing school affect their chances in life? One way to help calm this psychological clamour is to get it down on paper. Write a letter to the ‘you’ of 10 years from now, or perhaps to your child’s future self. Set out all your thoughts, fears, hopes and emotions as candidly as you feel comfortable with. If you’re writing to your child, then this is a unique way to let them know how much they were loved during that crazy period of lockdown.  

With socialising forbidden or strictly limited, most of us have been making daily use of video calls to keep up with friends and family. The Zoom chat or Google Meet has become an iconic part of lockdown. It will be one of the aspects we all remember when thinking back to these times. So why not keep a record of it? All you need to do is take a screenshot of every call you make, so you can keep track of who you were talking to on which days. It seems trivial, but 30 years from now it’ll be a fascinating glimpse into how you kept friendships going. 

See also: The Best Baby Scrapbook Ideas To Remember Their First Year