Dad's Guide to Creating Holiday Family traditions

The holidays are here and "it's the most wonderful time of the year!" ...and the busiest!  Between last minute shopping, holiday parties, and traveling to see family, it's easy to get caught up and let the season rush by in a blur.  

However, the holidays are a special time for children, and as a dad, you have the opportunity to make them extra memorable for your family.  The things your family does together during the holidays will bring smiles to your children's faces and create memories that will last a lifetime.

You have a big responsibility, dad, to make the holidays special for your kids, but don't feel stressed or pressured by that!  As we like to say at NFI, it's the smallest moments that have the biggest impact in the life of a child.

Be a Holiday Hero with our tips for creating memorable family traditions for the holidays!

5 Tips to Creating Holiday Traditions with your Family

• #1:  Intentionally create traditions:  Read these 5 tips from the Dad Email Archive on how to start your own traditions, including: pick one simple change, look to your past, and involve your kids.
  
• #2:  Say "no" to some things to make time:  If you're constantly on the go during the holidays, you won't have time for your own traditions!  Say "no" to some party invitations, say "no" to the pressure to go shopping every night, say "no" to late hours at the office.  Intentionally set aside time for your family to be at home together so you have time to celebrate your traditions.
  
• #3:  Focus on the reason for the season:  If your family is religious, share your beliefs with your children in a way that makes sense for their age and is unique and memorable.  Make it fun for them: for example, help your kids act out the story of Baby Jesus or the traditions of Hanukkah.  If you're not religious, incorporate values of giving, generosity, and serving into your holiday celebrations.
  
• #4:  Don't focus on the "stuff":  Kids can easily fixate on their "wish list" or the presents under the tree.  However, you can influence what they get excited about during the holidays by the traditions you establish in your family.  Baking cookies for neighbors, decorating the house, playing outside in the snow (if you're lucky enough to have a "white Christmas"!), and serving the less fortunate are great traditions that don't involve the gifts the kids want to get this year.  Read this article from the Dad Email archive for more ideas on shifting away from a materialistic focus for the holidays.
  
• #5:  Still need some ideas?:  If you're still looking for some inspiration for holiday traditions, try one of these ideas: visit a tree farm and go on a hay/sleigh ride, read holiday stories together, drive around your neighborhood and look at Christmas lights, watch holiday movies with the whole family in your PJs, make homemade ornaments together, or go Christmas caroling in your neighborhood (or better yet - sing carols at a nursing home!) and then drink hot chocolate.
  

Whatever your family traditions are, the most important part of the holidays is that you spend time together.  That's what will make the holidays memorable and special for your kids - time with you! 

You Can Be Your Family's Holiday Hero!