Importance Of Family Traditions

Different families have different family traditions. Meaningful family traditions provide parents with an invaluable tool for carrying out their divine responsibility to rear children in love and righteousness. As families establish and follow traditions, each family member is strengthened and the family as a whole grows in unity and love.
The Family: A Proclamation to the World states that wholesome family recreation is important in building successful families. By creating traditions that bring the family closer to God, parents can strengthen the bond between family members, fortify commitment to religion, and teach important principles they want their children to understand and live by.
What are Family Traditions?
Traditions are practices or beliefs that create positive feelings and are repeated at regular intervals. They're more than routines, which are ordinary, everyday activities that require no special behavior and involve little emotion. Often traditions are handed down from generation to generation, but every family can create its own traditions as well. Some traditions are based on God's commandments, such as praying before meals. Others come from cultural or ethnic heritage, such as serving dumplings on cold winter nights.
The Value of Family Traditions
Traditions cultivate connection between immediate family members and between generations. Family scholars Nick Stinnett and John DeFrain say that traditions are the "we always" of families, like "We always make snow ice cream at the first snowfall," or "We always have games and popcorn on Saturday night." Because such traditions have meaning that is special to an individual family, they create feelings of warmth and closeness. By spending time together in a fun and s...

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...cookies and give them to those in your neighborhood or congregation who are alone.
Have a red dinner with red jello, red mashed potatoes, beets, cherry cake, etc.
Call relatives and tell them you love them.
Easter/Passover Traditions
Visit the graves of family members early in the morning and talk about Jesus Christ's resurrection.
Roll Easter eggs down a hill, symbolizing the removal of the stone that blocked Jesus' tomb.
Dye Easter eggs together.
Enjoy the Passover service together, including prayers, scripture readings, songs, hand washing, a meal (including the eating of hard-boiled eggs as a symbol of the renewal of springtime), eating of green and bitter herbs, unleavened bread, and wine (fruit of the vine).
Written by Marisa Beebe, Research Assistant, and edited by Stephen F. Duncan, Professor, School of Family Life , Brigham Young University .