Our lives are so busy. Everyone I know is busy, particularly those of us with children. Sometimes my own family is too busy. I know it’s the little things kids treasure and remember. Things like their mom playing cards with them, or making them cinnamon toast when they are sick, or giving their stuffed animals a kiss goodnight.
Everyday Traditions: Simple Family Rituals for Connection and Comfort by Nava Atlas reinforces my belief that it’s the little things that matter. In fact she elevates those little things to be more than little things. The cinnamon toast becomes a sick day ritual. The subtitle says it all. These ideas and rituals are for comfort and connection. And they are all simple. Most require very little money. Some don’t even require much time, just an awareness of utilizing the moment.
A lot of families share their traditions in this book. It’s just packed with great ideas. One mom tells of writing a birthday letter to her children every year. There are ways to honor and remember family members that have passed away.
Atlas shares customs from around the world. Next New Year’s I think we’ll eat twelve grapes at midnight like they do in Spain. And I love the idea of going out for a birthday breakfast for one-on-one time with the birthday child. Kind of hard with twins, but I still love the idea. Another fun birthday idea is to give the birthday child a new privilege and new responsibility. The example in the books is that a child turning six might be allowed to say up an extra half hour for their new privilege and would take over feeding the dog as their new responsibility. I really wish I’d known about that one sooner.
I also like that there are rituals for mom time. The book suggests getting together with friends once a month for a “chick flick” or meeting in a café with friends and getting your writing done, or forming a knitting group.
Atlas says that rituals reinforce tradition and that traditions link generations. It makes me smile to wonder if my boys will kiss their own children’s stuffed animals’ goodnight.
In the back of the book there’s blank notebook pages for the reader to form and record their own family rituals. I am looking forward to filling in the pages.
Also See:
Creating New Holiday Traditions
Make Birthdays Fun With Traditions