I’ve been writing about Chocolate Tuesdays in my daily journals and I also recently wrote about a rainy weekend when I took the kids out for ice-cream. I received a request from a fellow Mama to spend some time writing on this subject and also getting feedback from our Mama In Motion community on traditions that they do with their families, no matter how big or how small. This really does help keep sanity. It helps to promote stability and respect and positions the family as a unit, versus individuals “at odds” with one another. And this is perfect timing….
Some of our day-to-day traditions:
Bigger traditions:
Things I’m thinking of:
What are some of YOUR traditions? Big or small — share them all!!!!
Mama In Motion™ 
I’ve been meaning to write but I have so many traditions that i didn’t know where to start. One of my favorites is “____’s Special Day”. At around the half bday mark, I surprise one of my kids with their special day. When they come home from school, the table is decorated in a theme they like (spongebob, barbie, etc.). I always do it on a Friday so they can stay up late with just Mom and Dad. I make their fav dinner, a special snack and they can pick a game or movie to watch with us. With 4 kids, it’s challenging to find one on one time. My kids love this!
Oh yay! Thanks for doing this! I love all of these ideas, but the one that I want to start doing right now is the one where you ask each kid to 1) learn something new today; 2) exercise their bodies; and 3) laugh really hard about something. I feel like our conversations about the day fall flat because all I get in response to “what did you do today?” is “I don’t know, I don’t remember.” I love this idea, thank you Mama K!
On our end, most of our “traditions” are bigger ones, so it is nice to think about ways to incorporate tradition on a daily or weekly basis. I suppose we do daily/weekly things – like I always sing a particular song when it’s time for tubby (I made it up) or changing diapers (ditto). We like to go out for breakfast on the weekend, that’s one thing we do pretty regularly. And there’s a restaurant nearby here where kids eat free on Tuesdays, so going there is quickly becoming a tradition, too (more due to my lack of dinner planning than the quality of the restaurant!).
On a bigger-scale, we have started a tradition of doing a special parent/kid weekend each year. We have 2 kids, so we alternate every year which kid we have – this year it was my son and I, next year it will be my son and his dad together, and me and my daughter. Camping or a city weekend, whatever you want to plan together, 1:1. It was really fun this year and we are looking forward to years to come as the kids get more and more involved in shaping the ideas and plans.
For the holidays, a couple years ago we started an advent calendar, where each day is a little envelope and inside is a slip of paper with an activity on it to do that day as a family. This is REALLY fun to do during December, although it takes a lot of planning at the end of November to pull it off. Some activities are bigger, like getting a tree, or baking cookies for the neighbors, or making an ornament for your teacher, and obviously have to be planned so you have time to do it. Others are small but special things like having a backwards dinner (dessert first), or reading a story by candlelight, having a picnic by the tree, paining toenails green and red, etc. Despite the work that this involves on the front end, we have enjoyed doing it so much – it helps to slow the season down and we appreciate and remember these moments.
I’d like to start a special birthday tradition with my kids – someone gave me a “birthday book” for each kid that has an interview page and age-appropriate journal questions so you can fill that in each year and it becomes a collection of entries to save. I like this idea, I hope I can remember to set aside the time and do it.
What about other people? Let’s hear about the special things you do, big and small, with your kids!