Family traditions are treasured by parents, kids, grandkids and anyone else who partakes in them, but you don’t need to rely on the traditions that you grew up with. Making your own traditions is a sacred act that every family should invest time in. Not everything you try out will be worth repeating, but building your own collection of traditions that bring everyone together is worthwhile.
To help you create your very own treasured family traditions or adapt your own to fit into the modern era, follow this guide:
Small Traditions Can Become Treasured Moments
Traditions can be made from even the smallest of moments. Making dinner together can become a tradition. Spending time together doing the ironing while watching your favorite show – this can also be a tradition. Don’t underestimate the power of these small moments. Make them special in some way and do them together without distractions. Enjoy dinner together listening to a soundtrack you and your son put together or walk the dog every day after school with your daughter. These are the moments that add up and let you bond every day.
Make Meals Together
Making meals together is one tradition every family should adopt. This is for the sake of your children’s future as much as it is an opportunity to bond. Far too often young people will leave the home and then live on their own without any idea of how to make healthy food. By making meals together, you can teach them the key skills they need in order to cook healthy meals they can eat.
Schools no longer teach home-economics, and by making meals together, you can pick up the slack and spend time together where you can share about your day.
Find Hobbies to Do Together
You should also look for hobbies that you are all interested in or just something you can do with each child. Having this one-on-one time with a parent doing something they love is so important for a child’s development, and will help you bond with them on an individual level without anyone feeling left out.
Take Sundays to Be Together
Take a family day together at least once a week. For most, this day will be a Sunday. Do something special like having a big family breakfast or going on a bike ride or hike. Make sure it is a day when you can all get together and make it something you can easily commit to.
Do Something Active
Being active and loving physical activity is best to start early so that it can be maintained throughout their lives with you. That is why hiking or going on bike rides is so great, but realistically you can do anything. Go swimming, go rock-climbing. Do whatever you love that is in your budget. You can get out there and have fun together without spending a dime, or you can pay to use high-tech facilities. Regardless of what you do, you’re being active and doing it together.
Do Something Creative
Another option is to do something creative and learn a new skill. For those who are busy, this might be best done as a class, which, of course, can occur at any time of the week. Learning a new creative skill is best done on that one-on-one basis we discussed before.
Do Something Adventurous
Go for a short day trip somewhere new, or just try something new. This can be as small as going to a new restaurant for lunch, or as big as taking a taster session at the local college.
Make The Summer Break Something Special
Summer breaks are such a great time for families to spend time together. You can go on small weekend trips instead of a big blowout, or you can go all out and see a new place in the world. To make these summers more affordable, it is wise to get accommodation and transportation out of the way, which you can do by finding and buying a great used RV for sale. When it comes to exploring Canada and the USA, the RV is your secret weapon.
Try Out New Traditions to See What Sticks
Don’t be afraid of trying out a new tradition. Not everything you try will feel right or worth repeating, and that’s okay. When you do find something that just clicks with you and gives you that idyllic, halcyon feeling that you’ll look back on fondly for years, then you know you have found the right activity to do with your family.
Build On Your Traditions (Especially Around the Holidays)
Traditions are built over time through repetition, and trying out new things and seeing what sticks is a great way to build unique traditions for your family. The holidays are when tradition building is most important, no matter which holiday it might be.
From Halloween and Christmas to Easter and Canada Day, there are so many different opportunities to make fun traditions for your whole family. Start with a Christmas dinner or host a Canada Day barbecue and host it year after year. Go with your family to pick your Christmas tree or decorate your home for Halloween together.
Repetition is key, especially when creating a tradition around the holidays. The rest of the year, you can vary things. You don’t have to go on a bike ride every Sunday but just do something together as a family. You don’t have to make dinner together every night, either. With the holidays, however, great traditions make the holiday special, so choose a few activities to repeat year after year.
Don’t feel discouraged if your kids don’t immediately pick up on the value of a tradition, either. Teens will always go through a period where they want to break away and find independence. Accept this and even encourage it by inviting them to make a tradition or to change a tradition that still involves the whole family. Instead of a picnic or breakfast on Sundays, let them choose a destination.
The family needs to be on board with your treasured family tradition, and it is important to remember that traditions change over time as situations evolve and people grow up. It’s natural, and it can be beautiful if you do it together.
