Make Back to School a tradition in your family

by Laura Pokorny

Family traditions are the glue that binds one generation to another. They give kids and parents something to look forward to, as well as something to count on as the new school year begins.

Meg Cox writes in the July/August 2003 edition of UU World magazine, "Ten Good Things Rituals Do for Children: impart a sense of identity, provide comfort and security, help to navigate change, teach values, teach practical skills, solve problems, keep alive a sense of departed family members, pass on ethnic or religious heritage, help heal from loss or trauma, generate wonderful memories."

Though the calendar reads September, students and teachers know that the real New Years Day is celebrated just after Labor Day. Champagne and midnight suppers are not part of our celebration, however. Family traditions and rituals associated with this New Year, the opening of school, are quite different in late August and early September.

The traditional back to school trip to the mall is almost always a precursor to the beginning of a new school year in most families. Not only do outgrown school clothes and shoes as well as tattered backpacks have to be replaced, but supplies – notebooks, pencils, crayons and the like, must be purchased for the opening of the school year. Depending on your approach, this can be a fun family outing with rich opportunities for communication with your children. "What do you suppose the kids will be wearing this year? What will the latest fad be? What kind of notebooks will teachers require? What are my expectations for the coming school year?"

Back-to-school routines frequently include a visit to the family doctor for an annual checkup. Pediatricians are especially busy at the end of August with pre-school physicals and immunization updates for children. It can be fun for kids to hear just how much they have grown since the last doctor’s visit.

Getting children back into a school routine can be a challenge. Bedtime and mealtime, which may not have been strictly adhered to during the unstructured days of summer, must be reestablished as the new school year approaches and summer wanes. Children love to be read to before they go to sleep, and bedtime stories impart rewards beyond measure. Not only are familial bonds strengthened and secured, but bedtime stories help implant a love for literature and reading in young children.

Many families celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of school with a special fun activity. I read about one family in Port Monmouth, New Jersey that celebrates the beginning of every school year with a special batch of chocolate pudding the night before the first day of school. This tradition signaled the end of summer and marked the beginning of a new and exciting school year.

Traditions do not need to empty the piggybank or require days of preparation. Simply enjoying a routine activity together can turn it into a tradition your family can carry on for generations to come. Just look what the Pilgrims started when they ate a turkey dinner to celebrate and give thanks in America! Share your favorite food on a special day and you could be starting a tradition, too.

Whatever your traditions and rituals, it is important to find time to be together as a family. Teachers know that family traditions and routines provide children with the memories that give them a sense of family and belonging and provide them with a foundation to build their own unique experiences on. There’s no place like home. And when children are given rewarding experiences throughout their childhoods, they’ll remember them into adulthood and recreate home wherever their hearts may settle.

The writer is President of the Farmingdale Teachers Association.