Good family traditions seem to be fading in today’s fast-paced world. Yet spending time together during those times can have an exceptional meaning for your own family. It is a huge link in keeping your family chain together.
“” (“Traditions Worth Keeping,” Ensign, Mar 1986).
Family traditions can be made at any time of the year. The fantastic thing about creating these traditions is the simple way it can make your children feel, like your family is something special. This particular value, creating family traditions, is discussed in “10 Ways to Teach Values in the Home.” This is a pamphlet put out by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church as it is more commonly known.
“Family traditions…are often celebrated with holidays, and they hold a special meaning for a family, linking children to parents in a common heritage. By continuing or beginning family traditions, you can foster pride, unity, and a sense of stability.”
It’s true most traditions are built around holidays. The reading of Jesus’ birth around Christmas time is one, staying up until midnight on New Year’s Eve is another. Lighting fireworks on the 4th of July in America (Independence Day) is one of my kids’ favorite traditions.
I would go beyond this to encourage you to start traditions outside of the holidays. I can immediately think of at least one my family does every summer. While Utah is commonly known for great skiing, there is an added beauty of the mountains come the warmer months. One of my favorite places to go is Lake Silver, located up by Brighton Skiing Resort. They have a boardwalk and little trail that circles the entire lake. Along the way my children love to look into the water and try to catch sight of a fish or two. They also love to collect rocks and toss them in. Every summer for the last five or six years I’ve taken pictures of my kids up there.
Not only are they enjoying the wildlife and scenery, they are also able to read about what a watershed is, why the lake has shrunk over many years, and loads of other things they might not otherwise find interesting.
Traditions can be carried on from what you used to do with your parents and siblings as a child. Family reunions or a summer camping trip where you include extended family members. Putting up decorations on your Christmas tree. Think about those traditions that made you feel like your family was something extra special.
Talk to your children. Find out what they enjoy doing together as a family. Though these traditions may only last a few years, at least your children will retain the memories. Not only that but they’ll remember how important it was for you to spend the time with them.
Embrace righteous traditions and I can testify they will only lead to increased blessings in the lives of your family.
