Take a minute to think back to your childhood and recall any particular traditions that you shared with your parents and/or siblings.

You’ve got a smile on your face now, don’t you?

Family traditions have a unique ability to bring about feelings of love and warmth, acceptance and support, happiness and closeness. Regardless of what the tradition may be, no matter how small or silly, you likely thought about the good times and laughs that you shared with your family and how these traditions had a way of bringing your family a little closer.

Now I would like you to think of the traditions that you share with your family now.

Do you still follow any of the traditions that were a part of your life as a child? Do you have new traditions that you enjoy with your spouse and children?

Unfortunately, with more time being spent at work and less time being devoted to the family, many of you may realize that you do not have nearly as many traditions now as you did when you were a child. The beautiful thing is that it is never too late to begin a new family tradition and start the process of renewing your family unit.

As you think about the traditions that you can share with your family, we have found the following traditions to have significant meaning in our lives and they each have their own unique ability to bring us together and make our family stronger.

Story Time

One of the traditions that we have followed with our children since they were born is the nightly story time before bed. This small tradition gives us a chance to come together as a family each night and bring the evening to a close. When our kids were small, my wife and I would usually read to both of them at the same time. As they have gotten older, we have split story time apart with my wife and I each reading to one of our children.

We have found that the practice of regularly reading to our children has fostered their interest in reading and encourages them to explore new topics. One of the largest influences on a child’s interest in reading is seeing their parents read. Reading with your children provides an opportunity to learn together and spend some quality time snuggled up with a book.

Family Dinner

This is something that we do not enjoy with the same regularity as story time but make an effort to do at least two or three times per week.

Try to make the family dinner a meaningful time at home without interruptions. Turn off the television. Do not answer the phone if it rings. Share a healthy, home-cooked meal as opposed to a fast-food dinner on the way home. When you are done with dinner, you can assign responsibilities to each member of the family to make cleanup time a joint venture.

Spending time around the dinner table presents an outstanding time for conversation. You will be able to learn more about what your kids are doing at school and the latest things that are important to them. Your children will have the opportunity to pepper you with the questions that are on their mind. Do your best to schedule at least one night per week where your family can all come together for a meal and strengthen your bond with one another.

Birthdays

In our family, we view birthdays as an opportunity to express our love and appreciation for each other. This doesn’t mean the family member with the birthday is spoiled with gifts but instead is spoiled with attention and affection.

From the youngest child to the oldest grandparent, everyone appreciates being recognized as a special member of the family and enjoys time with their loved ones. Birthdays provide an opportunity to bring the entire family together, in many cases over dinner or at least cake, and share stories and experiences.

Holidays

Much like birthdays, holidays present an opportunity to share good times with your family. In many cases, holidays will include family members from distant locations or more extended family than is typical at birthday celebrations. Holidays present numerous opportunities for tradition and is often a time where you will share traditions that have been passed down through the generations.

In our family, we have quite a few holiday traditions. We gather on Christmas Eve to share a meal, including a long-standing family tradition of having kuba which is a dish from the Czech Republic made of groats and mushrooms. On New Year’s Eve, we forgo heading out on the town for parties and celebrations and get together with a small group of friends and family to share a night of food, fun and laughs in the safety of our home.

With our children, my wife and I have started a family tradition of visiting a local pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins for Halloween. The place we visit has an actual pumpkin patch where you head out into the field and pick your pumpkin right from where it grew - in many cases they are still attached at the stem. The tradition continues when we spend time together as a family carving out the designs in our pumpkins. We’ve shared quite a few laughs at some of the crazy designs that have been carved over the years.

Sports and Exercise

Something that we recently started at our house is to get out of the house each night for a family walk. This gives us an opportunity to spend some time together and get a little bit of exercise. We’ve been trying to lead a healthier lifestyle and this tradition helps teach our kids that exercise is fun and something to look forward to each day.

Taking the time to enjoy a particular sport or exercise as a family will encourage physical fitness throughout the family. To add a little extra fun, feel free to encourage challenges or games as part of your activity. For instance, when we take our family walk we have the challenge to always go farther than we did on the previous walk. This might be one sidewalk square more or an extra block but it keeps everyone interested and motivated to work together as a family and reach our goals.

Your Family Traditions

These five examples of family traditions will hopefully encourage you to examine your own family traditions. Traditions provide a time for you to strengthen your bond as a family and renew your mental, physical and spiritual outlook on life. It is amazing to see how even the most simple tradition has a way of melting away the stress you may be feeling and allow you to feel refreshed and ready to overcome any challenges before you.

If you did not have the benefit of growing up with family traditions, take the time to create new traditions for your family to enjoy for many years to come. As I mentioned at the beginning, when you (or your children) look back over the years at the traditions that you follow you will likely remember all of the good times and laughs shared with your family. One of my family’s traditions that always makes me laugh is to think of the experiences shared while playing Pictionary on New Year’s Eve - for anyone that has played Pictionary, you know what I am talking about!

I’d love to hear what family traditions you share with your loved ones. Leave a comment with your favorite tradition!

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