Family traditions are often set in motion long before we come along in the family. These traditions happen because our parents loved to do certain things like going for walks after the usual Sunday roast or a drive in the countryside, exploring the bush lands nearby, or for a stroll along the beach. When children come along in the family, more traditions are added, to the enjoyment of all.
Helping with Chores around the House
When I was growing up, I always helped my mother clean the house at the weekend, a chore I loved… dusting and shining the basins, bath and making mirrors sparkle. I just loved working with my Mum, folding clothes, all the while chatting. Other traditions we followed, when fruit season came along, were bottling fruit and tomato relishes etc when fruit was in abundance. My brother and I helped Mum in the vegie garden and making jam and meat pies which we loved.
Family Outings

Holidays were also a great tradition because we would visit our cousins in the country on their dairy farm. Mum was the youngest of nine in her family, so we had a lot of uncles and aunts to visit, most on dairy farms or chicken farms in the country, which was all great fun. We would stay for about a week, helping to milk the cows and playing games in the hay shed, hiding from each other and getting hay all over ourselves. At other times during the year, we would spend special weekends visiting grandpa’s holiday house at the beach. These special holiday traditions we all very much anticipated.
Family Traditions evolve as you go through life and it’s very important to have them play an important part in our own family life, bringing up children. Children love patterns of behaviour and thrive on repetition. It’s what builds stability, trust, happiness and security.
Holiday Traditions
At Christmas time, my mother always gave special Christmas stockings, stuffed full of wonderful items, to all her nine grandchildren of all different ages and she would spend lots of time choosing special items to buy for each grandchild. My own children, who are grown up now and have children of their own, still remember these happy occasions spent opening their gifts from their grandma and grandpa and we have all carried on similar traditions.
They also remember the happy times spent camping by the beach, which was a family tradition that lasted many years until our youngest daughter turned sixteen.

I love family traditions as they give you something to look forward to, that you do on a regular basis. When our children were growing up, we would have dinner together each night as a family, with no distractions such as tv etc. We would all take turns in sharing what happened over the course of our day. Our children would share things that we would otherwise not have known about. We would all come up with suggestions in trying to solve any issues we may have had. And of course, our children always looked forward to the routine of bedtime stories which were rarely missed. Our two daughters would sit on the “reading chair” (lounge room couch) with their father reading to them. On school holidays, our children liked to stay in pyjamas in the morning, playing games together, relaxing, laughing and having lots of fun. Then we would either go off to the park with cousins or friends, calling in at the shops for a special treat.
Family traditions build memories that can last a lifetime.