All families have their traditions; ours is traveling. I’m not very good at making things, but I’m great at going places. So after my son was born, I began marking the seasons by visiting certain places year after year. In the fall, we buy apple pie and go apple-picking. In spring, we visit the baby animals at the farm. The list goes on and on.
I didn’t consciously make these yearly treks into family traditions, but that’s what they became. When life gets a bit hectic, it’s comforting to have these little rituals to look forward to.
I’m here to give hope to those parents who often feel like their crazy, busy life makes it impossible to make any room for family traditions. Take a day trip this weekend. You don’t have to make, or bake anything to celebrate spring; at least, not this weekend. This Sunday, just find the coolest garden in your city, and go spend your day strolling it with your kids. Then go again next year, and the year after that. That’s one relaxing family tradition, everyone in the family will look forward to.
Nowadays, my son looks forward to our family’s traditional day trips. I wonder if he’ll feel the same when he’s older. Probably not, but I don’t really care. When he’s sixteen, I’ll still be dragging him to see those chicks at the farm, even though he’ll rather be checking out chicks at the mall. It’s family tradition, goshdarnit.
Sounds like a great tradition to me!
I think some of my favorite memories from my childhood came from the day trips we did to places like the apple orchards, the historic restored village, etc.
Carolina – this is so true, and SO good to be reminded of. Get this… you recently posted about Monterey. You’ll be proud that we made it out there on Sunday, for a ‘day’ trip, to meet up with old friends. It was perfect. Although we didn’t make it to Archies, we DID make it to the park & the beach. We all came back happy & exhilerated. It was your post that got me to nudge my family to go, or else we might have flaked. So, there you go – thanks for those reminders, we all need them.
That’s how I felt after our little excursions on Sunday, I was so relaxed. So now you got me excited about our day trip to MBay Aquarium next week. Sometimes, I think I’m too tired from the week to get out there, but then when I’m there I realize it was worth the effort.
I love the day trips I take with my kids. In fact, I’ve hesitated to schedule them into other activities because they’d interfere with our fun times, and I could argue that our outings are as important for them as playing soccer or taking dance classes. They’re spending time together as a family and learning about the world around them.
there could be some real chicks at the farms, too. girls from other families with outing traditions at the farm. or, perhaps the destination changes, but the ritual of family outing does not. that’s the most impt piece it seems anyway.
he’s so going to treasure all these trips and exploring he’s doing, and thank you for it.