R is for Rituals

Rituals are important for families. They help children feel secure and develop a sense of belonging. Rituals say 'this is who we are as a family'. Rituals can be based on religious festivals and other community events or they can be as simple as allowing your child to chose their favourite food for their birthday meal.

For the threefootcooks, Friday afternoon happy hour is a ritual. Our version involves cordial or occasionally soft drink for the girls, grown up drinks for hubby and me and most importantly a plate of good cheese, crackers, nuts and other nibbles such as dried fruit. Happy hour is a time for us as a family to connect and relax after a long week. Bee was the one who actually initiated this ritual. She had heard her grandparents talking about the happy hour they have around sunset when travelling around in their caravan and it went from there. We usually have happy hour here at home but we have also had it camping, visiting relatives and most recently, last Friday on the beach watching the sunset.

This is one ritual I plan on continuing long into the future. It may evolve slightly but the importance of reconnecting as a family will remain. While we spend a fair bit of time together as a family now I can see that it won't be long before that starts to change. School, work, sport and community commitments will all start to impact on our family time as Bear and Bee get older. So if I can make this ritual something we have always done maybe it will continue to be something we always do (even through the teenage years!).

What family rituals involving food do you have that help your family connect?

Tsh from the Simple Mom blog has a great post on the importance of family rituals.