As the mother of three grown children and one nearly grown senior, I've had many people ask how I've stayed close to my children. I believe it's because we have a unique family culture.
How do you do this? It starts with time. Spend time together doing things. Whatever interests your children, go with it. You should also include them in your activities.
When I was finishing up my bachelor's degree, I had to watch a video of "Into the Woods" for a drama class. My teen girls viewed with me. During the movie, we started quoting lines like, "You know what your decision is, which is not to decide!" We use this on a regular basis when one of us has a decision to make. We even sing it.
Another is the tradition of the "bousch" (pronounced boo-sh) blanket. Any comforter, quilt, or afghan that is the perfect weight to make you feel cozy and warm is "bousch". My good friend, who had my girls babysit on a regular basis, let them fall asleep on the sofa under a bousch quilt. She later made bousch quilts for them to take to college. My girls had to try out their quilts and let her know if they achieved bousch status. They pronounced her bousch quilter extraordinaire!
Other parts of our culture are even odder. We all want minions to do our bidding (no one has suceeded so far), love to mock merchandise in the store (hey, you NEED these sparkling orange leggings), have our own vocabulary (puter for computer), and often finish each other's sentences.
So, keep up those strange traditions, like throwing Christmas missles (fabric Christmas trees sewn by my sister-in-law), and work together on memories that last throughout eternity. After all, your best experiences should be with your family.
Lovely post Lynn. I like my family traditions too. My brother picked up from some movie blah blah blah said very slowly. Now the whole family uses it when someone is complaining.
ReplyDeleteI love this post. We have some very random traditions, but they are just ours and we love them. My dad is a story teller. He has told the same stories over and over and over. When he gets ready to start one, we just yell out a random number (like STORY #653), then everyone laughs, my dad makes a comment about getting no respect and then we listen to his story...again. Love it.
ReplyDeleteHaHa! I love your post. Family traditions are so important. And sometimes the most simple things become traditions. I've discovered that it's ok to start new ones of the years, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post. Family is the where the strangest traditions are started. My kids love quoting movies. Sometimes I wonder if they ever have an original thought!
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