Family Traditions to Start
Above all, what do you want most in this world as a mother?
I bet you want to feel connected to them. That deep, knowing, loving connection that is priceless and sometimes feels out of reach in our busy world.
We’ve got some ideas for how to sprinkle bits of connection throughout your days, weeks, and years with your kids.
Family Traditions that foster connection can be a game changer for your relationship with your family at any stage. Traditions can foster little bits of connection sprinkled throughout the day or week, not only builds a strong relationship with your child, but it creates great memories, as well.
These Small Family Traditions can turn a bad mood around in seconds!!
We’ve got some great ideas for you here. My advice for you is to read through the entire post and then, pick a few of these family traditions for connection to start today! Most of them take just minutes and are free!!
Small Daily Traditions for Connection
You can do small things throughout the day to fee connected with your kids on even the busiest of days. Look for those things that happen everyday, like meal times and bedtimes, to sneak in a little something special with your kiddo.
Starting Traditions with your kids at Meal Times
I am starting with the easiest – and yet, the most elusive, in this day and age. Even as recently as 15 years ago, family meal times were a given. We didn’t have tons of snacks all day long, or busy schedules and screens vying for our time.
Getting your family to all sit down together for meals may be a struggle – but it’s worth it. A summary of 1783 studies on family mealtimes show that kids who experience family meal time on a regular basis have less depression, alcohol use, increased self-esteem and better grades, to just mention a few.
There are many things you can do to make meals and snacks a time of peace and connection with your kids. This section is probably te biggest because we all have to eat. 😍😍😍
✅ Schedule family meals
With everybody having busy schedules and maybe even teens who work, you may have to sit down as a family at the beginning of the week and choose two to three nights a week to designate as family meal nights. These should not be optional.
Heck, even starting with one night a week is great!
✅ Get kids to help with meal prep
Working together to prepare a meal is a great way to not only connect with your kid, but to build great skills, as well. Believe it or not, kids and teens actually like to help in the kitchen, right alongside you.
There are so many ways kids can help with meal prep:
- Grocery list making and shopping
- Unloading groceries
- Washing, chopping fruits and veggies
- Sauteing meat, veggies, etc.
- Setting the table, Plating food, clearing dishes
Just about anything kids can do while you are in the kitchen together can be a connecting activity.
✅ Think outside dinner
There are two other mealtimes to connect – maybe lunch or a weekend lunch work better for you to get together. A quick snack break can be a time to chat. Even just pausing for a cool drink together sitting on the porch can be a connecting activity.
Ice cream “Sundays” can be a fun outing or just an excuse to share a bowl of ice cream with your kiddo.
✅ Change the scenery
Eating out can be expensive, but you can take a meal to a park or even just outside to change it up and make mealtimes more memorable. Grab a drink and sit on the sofa for 5 minutes with your kids.
I have a “requirement” for my teen boys when we are both home at the same time – 10 minute catch up with mom! We sit with a drink or snack and they tell me about their day.
✅ Lively mealtime conversation that connects
To get away from the boring, “How was your day?” talk, use a fun tool to instigate some lively – and memorable – conversation. Table topics is a set of questions that are family friendly and turn any meal time into a lively conversation.
Mealtimes are one of the easiest times to connect – everyone has to eat – and there are so many parts to mealtime to create a ritual or routine around. Another thing we all do is go to bed! Bedtime is a great time to create some connection.
bedtime Traditions for families
Bedtime is another great opportunity for starting traditions that promote connection. We all go to bed! Some of these can be done nightly or weekly or just sneak them in as often as possible.
Read Aloud at Bedtime
Reading a book aloud to your kiddo can be an amazing thing for many reasons, most of all connection. But with that connection develops a love of books!
I can’t say enough about how this worked for my family. I have such great memories of reading aloud to my kids for nearly 10 plus years. You can raise readers with this routine and fill your kids memory banks with so much great material.
Even if your kids can read on their own, you can still read aloud to them. Choose your fave books from childhood, read a book that’s a bit over their reading level – kids can understand literature that may be hard for them to read themselves. See the box below for our favorite bedtime books.
Daily Traditions for more connection
Note Writing
Leaving little notes for each other can be a fun way to connect even if you are not home! Positive notes about their day, Quick i love you’s, funny jokes, a note at night in their bed with a little treat, can be so fun.
Menu clips and washi tape are great ways to hold or secure notes to surfaces.
Side benefits to this — kids are learning to print neatly so others can read. Younger kids can learn spelling and boost reading skills with the notes you write to them! You will want to save their notes and keep them someplace safe to look back on them – and feel that connection all over again!
XO Before You Go
It’s lovely to acknowledge when family members are leaving the house – for work, school, etc. It’s a 30 second opportunity for connection that leaves everyone with a good feeling, even when you are apart.
XO Before you go is a routine we still have with teens. it’s simple. Everyone gets a hug or kiss before they leave the house. We even run from the kitchen, yelling, “Don’t go yet!!! I have to XO you!!!”
Weekly Traditions for More family Connection
Friday night movies
Gathering the family together and celebrating the end of the week can be something everyone looks forward to. Let someone different pick the movie every week to keep the variety and interest going.
This doesn’t have to cost a dime. Check your local library for amazing movies on DVD!!
Family Game Night
Take a break from your phones and sit as a family and play a great board game. Not only are you teaching great skills like taking turns and good sportsmanship, but it’s a great way to be present with each other and slow down to connect.
Check out our list of favorites here.
keeping a family journal/photo album
Woking together to compile a family journal or photo album is a great routine for connection. Kids can participate fully in this endeavor – whether it’s writing or drawing to document a family hike or choosing photos to print and place in an album.
A simple spiral bound sketch book works as a great starting point. Kids can draw, paint or write directly onto the pages or you can use colorful tape to keep fun photos of bit of paper ephemera, like ticket stubs.
Having a journal to refer back to and just thumb through is just such a fun thing! You can amass an entire collection to relive your connection and treasure forever!
