“I hear something inside this egg!”
“Oh, look! They’re so shiny!”
“Remember when we got our piggy banks?”
With Easter coming I’ve been reflecting on some of the holiday traditions we created with our kids and those are some of the things I can remember them saying.Traditions and rituals create lasting memories for families. They’re what make your family “yours” and provide a sense of belonging to kids. Year after year they’re a constant that everyone can look forward to.
Sometimes traditions form because we realize we’ve been doing things a certain way for a long time (and we want to continue). Other times we intentionally create holiday traditions to reflect our values.
Do you have any Easter traditions? They don’t have to be elaborate, and actually, quite often it’s the simple things that are most memorable!
In our family, when the kids were young we wanted them to have the fun and excitement of Easter egg hunts! But didn’t want them getting lots of candy and then have to monitor how much or what they were eating. We didn’t want to put small toys or stickers in the plastic eggs because they would end up wasted and broken.
Drawing on some things we did find important – health, learning and curiosity – we came up with a solution for our family. Coins would be hidden within the eggs! Then the kids wouldn’t be bombarded with candy we didn’t want them eating and they would be able to sort and count money rather than jelly beans!
When we started this tradition with our two young kids they also got ceramic piggy banks, rather than stuffed bunnies, in their Easter basket. So when the first Easter came around for our third they were filled with excitement and anticipation that he’d get a piggy bank too. And he did 🙂
We’re still going strong with this tradition years later but even when traditions change over the years the memories and stories remain a way to bring family together.
