Why I Started Keeping a “First Day of School” Journal for My Kids

It started, honestly, by accident.

The first year, I just wanted a photo, the classic one, kid standing awkwardly by the front door with a backpack twice their size, squinting into the morning sun. I posted it, everyone commented the usual things, and by the next week I’d basically forgotten about it.

Then the second year rolled around, and I went looking for last year’s photo to compare. And that’s when I realized: I had the picture, but I had nothing else. I couldn’t remember what they were excited about that year. I couldn’t remember their favourite show, their favourite food, what they said when I asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. It was just… gone, the way most ordinary days quietly are.

That’s when I decided the photo wasn’t enough. I needed to actually write things down.

The First Attempt Was Too Much

My first instinct was to go big — a proper journal, a full page of writing, maybe even interview them on video. I lasted exactly one year. By the time September rolled around again, “write a full journal entry” felt like homework, not a tradition. It got pushed to “later,” and later became October, and the moment was gone.

So I scaled it way down. Instead of a blank page and a pen, I found a simple printable — just a handful of prompts. Height, favourite food, favourite song, one line about what they were excited about, and the big one: “when I grow up, I want to be.” That was it. Something I could hand to my kid with a pencil and have finished in under five minutes, even on a morning where we were already running late.

That’s the version that actually stuck.

What Surprised Me Most

I expected the photos to be the thing I loved most, looking back. They weren’t.

It was the little written answers. The year my daughter wrote “a mermaid who also drives a bus” under favourite job. The year my son’s favourite food was, unhelpfully, just “food.” The year one of them wrote “I’m excited about nothing” and then, three lines later, “I’m good at making my brother laugh,” which — read together — told me more about that particular September than any photo could.

Kids at five, seven, nine years old say things with a kind of honesty that starts to fade as they get older and more aware of what sounds “right.” Catching that unfiltered version, in their own handwriting, turned out to be the part I actually treasure.

It Also Became About Me, a Little

The version I use now has a small section for parents too, just a line or two: your favourite memory from the year, what you’re proud of them for. I almost skipped filling that part in the first time. It felt indulgent, like the page was supposed to be about them, not me.

But going back and reading what I wrote three years ago, what I was proud of, what stuck out to me as a parent that particular year — has become its own kind of time capsule. It’s a version of me I don’t fully remember being, the same way the kids are versions of themselves they’ve already outgrown.

The Habit That Made It Actually Work

If I’m honest about why this stuck when so many of my other “let’s start a tradition” ideas didn’t, it comes down to three things:

It’s fast. Five minutes, max. Nobody has to sit down and “find the time”, it happens in the same ten minutes as getting shoes on.

It’s the same format every year. Same questions, same layout, same spot in the binder. I’m not reinventing anything each September, which means I’m not tempted to skip it because it feels like effort.

It’s stored somewhere I actually see again. One binder, one shelf, every year in order. It’s not buried in a phone’s camera roll between three hundred other photos I’ll never look at twice.

Why I’d Tell Any Parent to Start This

You don’t need a fancy setup. You don’t need to be a “journaling person.” You don’t even need to be consistent about anything else in your life, I’m not, in most areas, and this still worked.

All you need is one simple page, filled out once a year, kept somewhere you won’t lose it. That’s genuinely the whole system.

What you get back, a few years in, is something I didn’t expect: not just a record of how your kids have grown, but a record of who they were at each specific moment, the job they wanted before they knew any real jobs, the food they loved before their taste changed completely, the thing they were excited about that seemed so big at the time and that you’d otherwise have completely forgotten.

If you’ve been meaning to start something like this, the first day of school is as good a starting line as any. Just keep it small enough that you’ll actually do it again next year, that’s the only rule that really matters.

If you’d rather not design a page from scratch, here are the three printables I mentioned along the way — pick whichever style fits your family:

• #065 First Day of School Printables — the classic, minimalist record set I use, covering Kindergarten through 2nd grade with a matching parent memories page
• #066 First Day of School Printable — a brighter, more playful interview-style page, if your kid is the type who lights up over color and stickers
• #067 First Day of Homeschool Printable — built specifically for homeschool families, with a favourites list and a “how I hope to feel this year” mood tracker

Whichever one you pick, the only real requirement is using it again next September.

Looking for More Systems Like This?

A first day of school photo is a great place to start, but it’s really just the opening page. Once the ritual sticks, it’s natural to want a whole system around it — birthdays, milestones, the little things your kids say — instead of scrambling to capture each moment separately as it happens.

Better systems, better days — that’s the whole idea behind SmilelineCo.

Looking for more free printables? Browse the [Free Printables Library →] for every free download we offer, new pages added regularly.

Want a full planning system instead of a standalone checklist? The [Complete Systems →] collection bundles pages like this one into something bigger, designed to work together across your whole routine — and you can browse everything directly in our [Shop →].

Setting up your own printing station? Our [Printing & Planner Supplies →] page has the exact printer, paper, and tools we use to go from PDF to finished page.