Making the Holidays Meaningful

December 2006

How can you make the holiday season about grace, not greed?  Today, Nurse Rona Renner, host of the radio show Childhood Matters and the new parenting expert for the Bay Area Discovery Museum, suggests ways to create meaningful traditions for your children.

Q. The holidays have become so commercialized and materialistic.  How do I make this time of year mean something more than just “gimme, gimme, gimme?”

A. I’ve always believed that the best gift you can give your child is the gift of your time.  So instead of having your kids make lists of things they want for the holidays, perhaps you can all think of things you’d like to do for the holidays as a family.

Creating new traditions or passing down old ones is a great way to make the season meaningful for everyone.  Family rituals — baking cookies or making presents or reading a beloved holiday story before bedtime — are what your children will remember long after their new toy breaks or the batteries run down.

Helping your kids connect with their community, which is one of the principles of the African-American holiday, Kwanzaa, is a great tradition to begin at this time of year.  Even  young  children can take great pleasure from helping others, whether that’s planting a tree, participating in a local event or donating toys or food to needy families.  Turning the holidays from a time of getting to one of giving can go a long way to combating the consumerism that seems so out of control these days.

For more ideas about creating meaningful — and memorable – holiday customs, I recommend The Book of New Family Traditions by Meg Cox.  And if you want to know more about Kwanzaa, The Gifts of Kwanzaa by Synthis Saint James is a lovely children’s book to read with your kids.

Rona Renner, RN, is host of the weekly radio show Childhood Matters, which airs every Sunday from 9-10 AM on 98.1 KISS-FM.  Do you have a question about parenting?  Send it to asknurserona(at)badm.org. 

Click here to find out how Kwanzaa is celebrated at the Bay Area Discovery Museum.