Back to school time is here, and moms and dads everywhere are having all the feels. I know I am, as my youngest started junior high this year, and is now the exact same height as his mama! The beginning of a new school year is the perfect time to look back and how fast and how far your child has grown. One Washington dad, Kevin Scruggs, doesn’t have to look far to capture those memories: he interviewed his daughter on video on the first day of school every single year, from kindergarten to her last first day.
Now, that video archive, edited and compiled to just a few minutes, has gone and continues to go viral. Scruggs’ video of his daughter Madison’s first days has nearly a quarter million views on YouTube.
Scruggs, who made a similar video for his older daughter Mackenzie, told Good Morning America why he embarked on this project so many years ago.
“I thought it would be cool when they graduate to them to see their whole career in one short clip,”he said. “I wanted to have something to remember.”
But what does his subject have to say about her childhood gone viral? Well, Madison doesn’t seem to mind. She told GMA that she enjoyed seeing herself grow up, and appreciates how much her father loves her and her family.
“It was [also] cool to see my personality change,” Madison said. “I’m really appreciative of how much time my dad put into it, how much he loves us and how much he and my mom do for us.”
Even though Madison is not my child, I got a little teary watching her grow up on camera and her different levels of excitement (or not!) about each first day of school. It definitely made me wish I had something similar for my kids. I have photos from each first day, which is great, but I would love it if, like Scruggs, I also had a snapshot of their voices, feelings, and personalities through the years. This idea is truly genius and I can see why it has touched so many people!
So, moms and dads, if you’ve got little ones, take a page from Scruggs’ book and take (and save!!) those first day of school interviews. What a gift a video like this is not only for Madison herself, but for her parents and her future family, too.
