Probably every family has a daily rhythm: up at 6:45, school at 9:00—or whatever works for your family.
But have you ever considered your weekly rhythms? I’m grateful that Sunday is a unique day at our house. It’s a day for worship, for attending church, for wearing special clothes, for staying at home with our family. It refreshes our spirits and gives us a break from the rest of the week. Sunday is also when I write out our school assignments for the week. Monday through Friday are often much alike, but we have rhythms there too: Monday we clean the kitchen, wash clothes, and have music lessons. Tuesday is downstairs cleaning, making bread, C’s paper route, and youth group. . . . Each day has certain activities. Saturday is our day to do big projects and to get ready for Sunday.
Yearly rhythms are the most fun. We try to celebrate many special days, not just the ones that the retailer
s think are special. We take note of Christian and Jewish holidays, including those not so well-known. We also observe days that mark the passing of the seasons. (Growing much of our own food really connects us to the cycles of the earth as nothing else can.) Thus, we recently celebrated the Spring Equinox, Passover, and especially Easter. A celebration can be just a special meal (or even one special food), a certain ritual, or a whole day of activities. We never spend much money, though we may spend a lot of time. Sometimes we “try” a celebration and decide it’s not important to us. But other celebrations we 
look forward to for months. What matters most is that such cyclical events provide joy and stability for our family.While it may not seem intuitive, I’ve learned by experience that children thrive on such structure. It gives them security, because they know what to expect and they anticipate familiar favorites.
There are several books I have used for seasonal celebrations, but my favorite is probably Festivals Family and Food by Diana Carey and Judy Large.
We have decided to make a themed potluck on each equinox/solstice, and celebrate them with friends. For summer solstice it will be outside with a bonfire and dutch oven potluck. For winter solstice last year we did soup...we might adjust pie night to be the autumnal equinox celebration. I'm not sure exactly what theme we'll settle into for each one yet (since we just settled on this this year).
ReplyDeleteI've found this to be very true (about children needing/expecting routines of some sort). When I don't provide something, my kiddos do a really good job of making their own regular activities (like playing "school" and pretending to be waitresses - Daddy is a chef).
ReplyDeleteYour blog is lovely. I look forward to your posts all week.