We’d all love to have tight-knit families who do lots of activities together. But actually making that happen in the modern world is a challenge. There’s just so little time for anything.
Fortunately, though, there is the institution of “traditions.” Families have been using them to draw closer together for thousands of years. Let’s take a look.
Cooking Sunday Lunch
Cooking is something that all parents should teach their children. Cooking skills are vital for a happy and successful life, particularly when it comes to health.
That’s why many families have a tradition of cooking Sunday lunch together. Cooking, baking and generally preparing meals as a team gives everyone a role and helps families to form stronger bonds with each other. Furthermore, it helps everyone practice their cooking skills and whip up more delicious food.
Random Acts Of Kindness
As a society, we tend to structure our kindness, choosing particular moments to display our more generous sides (for instance, the holidays). But random acts of kindness are an important family tradition. In fact, they teach kids that being kind isn’t something that you have to reserve for special occasions. Instead, it’s something that you should be doing all the time.
Going For Hikes
Going for regular hikes through fields and woodland is another way to draw families closer to each other. Just wait until the weather is good and then head out with your walking sticks, raincoats and boots.
Hikes are an opportunity to enjoy other activities too, besides just wandering through nature. Detectorlist, for instance, talks about how thousands of people have now taken up metal detecting as a hobby and are using it to unearth valuable treasures.
You can also enjoy other activities while hiking, such as bird spotting and so on. Introducing your children to the natural world can pique their interest and get them spending more time outside.
Vacations
Vacations can also become a family tradition – something that you do every year to draw family members closer together.
Some families choose to go to the same spot every year. Others go to different places, but keep the same format (for instance, two weeks over the summer). Family vacations help you build memories that your children will remember forever.
Decorate For The Holidays Together
Every holiday has its own character. Halloween, for instance, is very different from Christmas. As such, the decorations are also very different from each other. Christmas is all about being elegant and celebrating the winter weather, while Easter is all about spring and new life.
Decorating for the holidays is, generally, much easier than regular decorating. Get kids to hang stockings from lines, put up decorations on the Christmas tree, like this 1st christmas bauble keepsake you can bring out every year, and even place eggs on the mantelpiece.
Game Night
Lastly, you might want to institute a family game night once per week. Games are a great way to get kids really involved in what they’re doing and encourage them to leave their devices alone for a while. Game night could involve family Monopoly, Pictionary, Boggle or even chess.
Baking Together
Baking is another fun kitchen-based activity you can do with your kids. It’s a good idea because it is semi-magical. Children find it amazing how wet batter can transform into fluffy cake, just by applying heat in the oven.
When it comes to baking, it’s best to start simple and then build from there. To begin, you might just prepare a basic batter with only the essential ingredients. Then you might build on that and start baking more complex cakes, (such as those with multiple layers). Eventually, you might add cacao or raspberries to the mixture to create unique bakes.
Watching Movies Together
Watching movies together is a low-effort family tradition that anyone with a TV can try. A great family movie night can be so much more than just watching a film. It’s also about the food, drinks, and the conversation once the show is over. Make sure that you start discussing family movie night well in advance so that everyone can discuss the type of film they’d like to see.
Gardening
Relatively few families have gardening as a tradition. However, if you and your children have green fingers, you might want to try it. Gardening is a labour of love. You can spend countless hours outside with your children, pottering around, making sure that all your beds look perfect.
So, there you have it: some traditions that will instantly bring your family closer together. Which will you institute with your kids and why?