What "person" do you journal in?

Hi

I am journaling about Christmas morning. Specifically, I am journaling about my kids opening their presents. I have numbered each picture and I am telling a little bit about each picture.

Here's my question:

When you journal about your kids, do you refer to them by their names, as he/she, or do you write TO them?

For example:
"Wynne also getting a top pick from her wish list. Sadly, it went back to the store. It made creepy crawlies but they weren’t EDIBLE like she expected. It was later returned for the edible version."

verse:
YOU also got a top pick from YOUR wish list. Sadly, it went back to the store. It made creepy crawlies but they weren’t EDIBLE like YOU expected. It was later returned for the edible version."

I envision that someday these scrapbooks will belong to my kids. I am making them for them. Maybe addressing them directly "you", "your", etc makes the best sense.

What do you do?

When im making a scrapbook for someone i allways refer to them as "you" i dont really use the name calling because im making it for specially for them, nott for alot of people to read, but even when people read it they know who its talking to! hope this helps!

On the pages I make for dd's albums I usually say 'you' and on pages for other albums (vacations, family) I use her name. You could compromise and say something like: Wynn, you also got something from your list. It didn't work out like you expected.... That way you identify the person but can still write in the familiar sense.

All of my journaling is the same. If my husband and I do something, It's "Bill and I" or "We" and if I'm talking about him and my son its "Bill and Joe".

Then if my mother or any one else looks at it, it makes sense. When I do birthday layouts for my kids they say, "It's Joe's Birthday" or "It's John's Birthday".

The only exception is my new granddaughters scrapbook.

I'm narrating that all from her point of view, like she is writing it. "My name is Roan and I am only a few minutes old.

This is my mommy and me. I just met her but already I love her and know she loves me so much. She calls me Honey Bear."

"This is my daddy and me. I changed his life forever when I was born at 1:23 this afternoon. Already I have him wrapped around my little finger. He calls me Governess."

"Even though I was only born yesterday a photographer has already come in for my first professional photo shoot. Everyone says I look like a little angel in m new blue sundress."

Mommy and daddy just brought me home from the hospital and showed me in my new room. Mommy loves the ocean so she picked the teal blue paint and daddy painted the walls. My crib has mobile that really entertains me. I love it - there are turtles and seahorses on it. I love my new room - everything is just what I would have picked out myself. I know I'm going to love it here."

If you go into my gallery these are the most recent pages - the ones of Roan narrated from her point of view.

When she gets older I will probably switch and just put "Roan loves the books she got for her birthday from her grandma and granddad."

I like the idea of directing the pages as "you" - that is very sweet. Just whatever you want to do.

I do both since I make a book for each one of my sons.
The situation in which you are describing I would do the "you" if it was journaling as a quick under picture tab.
If it is part of a larger journaling to tell a whole story I would put their name in it as a note to them.
I have a couple of examples in my gallery of journaling to them if it helps you. I am a huge on journaling.

Again this is for their indivual personal book, if you are doing one book for both kids then I might use names just because as time goes by it may not always be clear to whom you are addressing.

....just my two cents!

Good suggestions.

For this page I think I will do something along the lines of what MoniL said. Wynne, you also got....

I think I like the idea of keeping it as a personal narrative or note/letter writing to my kids.

I am guessing that there will be a "feel" to the layout when done and the feel will dictate what person/tense I will write in.

I have only completed about 8 layouts but I have not done the journaling until now. I didn't really think about HOW I would journal until I tried it. I thought journaling would be the easy part. LOL

My journalling is all third person: we did this, he visited us, I love that. My albums are records of our history, not letters written to anyone. They will be read only by my DH and me, and maybe friends and family. We haven't got children so my scrap books are for me.

I think writing "you did such and such" is nice for children to read though.

ETA: I stand corrected! I journal in the first and third person, not the second. I don't talk to anyone in my journalling.

It varies. I don't have kids to write about. I wrote for the people looking at my pages in the present, and for the people who might look at them in the future and might need context because they don't know all the people in the stories.

But mostly, I write it as "us/we", sometimes referring to myself as "I" and sometimes referring to myself by name instead. I also often sign my name at the end of my journaling, and always have my husband sign his name if he writes some journaling.

I always journal to my kids.

For my boys' individual books I write to them ("You had fun...") and if I need to refer to myself I say "I". I do write the titles for their LOs as if they are saying it ("My first..."

Just this last year I've started doing a family album and it's been hard to get out of the habit of "you" on LOs that feature one boy more than the other, but still have both. It's also felt weird talking about the boys, not to them in this family album. I again refer to myself as "I" in these LOs...I do the work, I get the credit in telling the story!

I mostly journal in the 3rd person, but sometimes use the 1st person. I have never journaled in the 2nd person before, but that's just me.

I journal all my stuff to my son directly and refer to my DH and I as Mommy and Daddy in all his books....
Alison

It varies for me. I have found that I need to carefully review my journaling before I print it or copy it (if using my own handwriting) to a scrapbook page. I will often catch myself switching persons during the process!

I generally journal in third person because you never know who is going to be looking at that book down the road, then without an intro they wouldn't know who made it or who it was for. We have enough pictures in our house we're still trying to figure out who the people are.

What would you all do for this layout??

I am doing a book for my dd for graduation. It has all her school pics in there, I don't usually put a name or anything on them as it is her book.

But I have a professional prom pic with her date.

I am labeling it with his name, but do you include her name or just use his? Such as Brittni ***** and Michael ******.

I always always try to identify everyone in a layout by name - and if I refer to myself in the first person (I, me), I make sure to have signed my name on the journaling so that the identity of "me" is obvious. I would name them both.

1st vs. 3rd person

Pronouns are a set of words that replace nouns. They are used to make your work less complicated and less repetitive. Examples of pronouns include:
•First person: I, we, me, us
•Second person: you
•Third person: he, she, it, they, him, her, them

I struggle with this type of journaling. I would probably use all three types...maybe even in the same paragraph! LOL

For the prom picture I would title it with the theme of the prom - or even the school name like Coral Park 2012 Sr. Prom - and put their names on it somewhere.

For me, it depends on the layout.


What bugs me is when I see layouts of pets and the journaling is something like, "you have so much fun chasing squirrels outside."

REALLY?! Like, the dog is somehow, someday going to READ it!?

• Bxr-Linda Said:

Hey, we like being chased....

I imagine someone asking me about the pictures and journal that way--third person. Like a reporter would.
Occasionally, I get persoanl and write about my feelings toward someone in the pictures--first person.
Rarely, do I write directly to someone--second person.