Holiday traditions with your kids

This is such a fun time! It's filled with all kinds of special things: we have Santa, we have the Elf on the Shelf, we have gifts, family and friends and let's not forget about all the food! So many of these things our children associate with the holidays. And, experts say making these traditions is really important for our kids.
Doing things together as a family every year, like seeing Santa, going shopping or picking out that perfect Christmas tree are perfect ways to create traditions. Those repeated rituals can help strengthen family bonds. Experts say that consistency actually gives children a sense of belonging. It makes them feel a part of something, something important.

This year for lots of families the Christmas tree lot, like the one for Faith Academy's baseball team, is where Christmas begins. Evan Reynolds is working the lot with his team and says, "about every two customers we have, there's at least two or three families that come by and we always have the children around to pick out the trees. The parents let them pick them out. It's really nice to see."

Experts say holiday traditions can help foster a sense of security in children. But, to do that, we should remember to keep things simple and focus on quality time together. For example, you don't have to cook an extravagant meal on Christmas Eve to make a tradition. You just need to get into the kitchen with your kids and do things together. Try to keep things positive. It can be hard when families get together, sometimes there are arguments. But, you want to try to avoid negativity -- that can really stress out everyone.

Experts say children remember traditions. The things their family did over and over again in a loving and caring way. And, our children will treasure those memories and use them to help build traditions of their own when they start their own families. Pretty neat, right?

For more on holiday traditions, click here or here . And, if there are special things your family does and you'd like to share, we'd love to hear from you! Please drop us an e-mail or a comment here about your holiday traditions.

We hope you and your family enjoy this very special time of year!