The Importance of Family Traditions

As I’ve been preparing for our Fathers’ Day celebration, I’ve been reflecting on the importance of family traditions. I have always innately appreciated family traditions. To be honest, my own family wasn’t huge on recurring traditions, largely because we moved around a lot and adjusting our traditions to meet our situation and needs each year. But we did have traditions, even if they changed in shape and form, and I valued those traditions heavily. I loved our faith traditions, our holiday traditions, and our family celebration traditions (birthdays, Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day, etc.). Even now, thinking about our traditions and different family experiences brings a warm, fuzzy feeling to my heart. Traditions were more than just another thing to do; they were an irreplaceable part of our family life – something we thought of together and did because they fit our family, helped us learn and always meant quality family time.

In my personal opinion, the more a tradition is specific to your family, the more meaningful it will be. Lots of traditions have become universal (Santa Claus, stockings, the Easter Bunny, Valentines Day cards, etc.). These traditions have lost a lot of their meaning – they are universal representations which might still symbolize something of value, but they have lost the personal and authentic touch. They’re too easy to come by, too commercialized, too meaningless. You can “do” them without investing time, teamwork or personal experience.

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