As soon as summer starts to fade and the air starts to fill with the smell of the leaves turning, our family knows that it is wine making time. It is a tradition that started when I was a little girl. Each fall, both of my grandfathers would make wine, and my cousins and I would all get together to taste the sweet grapes and have a turn squishing and stirring. It has become a loved tradition for my oldest daughter, while my twins were new to it this year. The excitement that is shown and the enthusiasm that is put into it, is heartwarming.
It is important to establish traditions for your family that will be consistent when everything else around us is constantly changing. It gives children the ability to have a sense of security to know that some things will remain the same in an ever-changing world.
Maintaining traditions helps to increase children’s understanding of the importance of family. It helps instill values that they will take with them into adulthood and share with their own families one day. Tradition allows us to live in the moment and enjoy something that we have created as a family. It gives us the chance we need to slow down and enjoy the most important people in our lives.
Traditions help bond us even more to the people we love and help us create happy memories that will last a lifetime. Traditions help provide a strong sense of identity and create a space for children to feel valued, safe, and loved; goals, which I believe, we all have for our children.
If you are reading this and thinking about how you may not have any traditions with your family, I’m here to let you know; it is never too late to start one! Start simple, apple picking every fall, pizza every Friday, hot cocoa during the first snowfall.
