Family Matters: Traditions

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Friday, November 12, 2010

Anisa Raoof, GoLocalProv Contributor

It's Thanksgiving season, and today marks a time to create new traditions and consider longstanding ones. Take a moment to use this week's tips to create, communicate, and celebrate.

Kido Tip 1. Make a Tree of Thanks.

This project has become a November tradition in our house. It’s a way to celebrate fall and remind us of the many relatives and friends we have to be thankful for. This project can be adapted for kids of all ages and it’s a nice way to teach kids the value of caring for others. The basic idea is to make a picture of a tree - copy one from a book, draw one or shape it from torn pieces of paper.

Help your children write names of people they are thankful for on leaves cut from colored construction paper or if you are super crafty make your own colored paper for the leaves with paint first. (See Kidoinfo for details). Use a glue stick to glue the leaves on the tree. Your Tree of Thanks is ready to hang.

Kido Tip 2. Talk about traditions.

Traditions connect our children with our personal and cultural history and form the memories they will later share with their friends and families. Stemming from religion, birthplace, seasons, or revolving around a treasured activity or possession, families today decide how to carry on, blend or create new traditions. Please join our conversation about Traditions on Tuesday, November 16th from 6:30-8:30pm at Craftland! This event gives panelists and attendees a forum to describe their traditions and learn how others celebrate with their loved ones through words, food and rituals.

Kido Tip 3. Celebrate your family traditions.

Think about the traditions in your home and why do you continue them? Are most of your traditions based on cultural identity, or religious beliefs, or seasons or holidays? What are you mainly honoring? Mark the most important ones on your calendar and plan to celebrate them!

Anisa Raoof is the publisher and founder of Kidoinfo, the parents' guide for Rhode Island and beyond.

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