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Establishing Family TraditionsIdeas & Tips to Create Meaningful Family TraditionsFamily traditions help establish continuity and closeness in a family. Traditions can focus on holidays, rites of passage or make ordinary days special.
Family traditions give children a sense of belonging. They are a chance for parents and children to share connection time that has special meaning within the family. They help create feelings of camaraderie among siblings and give children something to look forward to. The Timing of Family TraditionsMany family traditions are initiated around the holidays. Whether the holiday is Christmas, The Fourth of July, Halloween, Hanukah, or any number of others, it is natural for each family to celebrate in their own special way. The calendar, store displays that parents can’t help but see and the general spirit of each season keep these traditions in the forefront of our minds at the appropriate time. Family traditions that don’t involve the holidays can be just as rewarding and meaningful as those that do. However, they can be more difficult to establish because they are easily forgotten from year to year. How to Create Family TraditionsWhen establishing a new family tradition, avoid anything elaborate. Keep planning and execution simple and inexpensive. This will ensure that your tradition will be easy to follow through on each year, no matter how hectic the future may get. To remember events, keep a detailed calendar from year to year that contains important information regarding each tradition. Be sure to include lists of supplies, special foods prepared and other details that may be easily forgotten. Include pictures to help jog your memory, if needed. Don’t be a slave to traditions that don’t work. If no one in the family is having fun and the event becomes an unwelcome chore, it’s time to reevaluate the need for this particular tradition. Maybe the children have grown too old for it or maybe there was too much work involved. Don’t be afraid to let things go when needed. Be on the lookout for spontaneous family traditions. If a particular even elicits shouts of joy and hopes that you will do the same thing again next year, make a note of it in your calendar. It may not have been a planned family tradition, but sometimes the spontaneous things are the most enjoyable for all. Ideas for Simple, Meaningful Family TraditionsTake the children’s pictures by the front door every year on the first day of school. Add the new pictures to a school memories scrapbook. Buy a new Christmas ornament for each family member each year. Label the ornament with the child’s name and year. Give the ornaments as gifts on Christmas Eve so the children can add them to the holiday tree. Engage your children in a squirt gun fight on the last day of school. Fill squirt guns with water ahead of time and be ready to play as soon as the kids get home. Family traditions are a wonderful extension of connection time for parents and children. Create family traditions for holidays or ordinary days. Keep them simple and they will hold special meaning for you and your children for years.
The copyright of the article Establishing Family Traditions in Parenting Methods is owned by Barb Hacker. Permission to republish Establishing Family Traditions in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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