Saturday Morning Pancakes…

Pretty much every Saturday morning my husband makes pancakes for the kids.  He makes them his special way, with some chocolate chips thrown in.

It’s become pretty much the norm for Saturdays.  I realized that this morning when my two year old heard the bowls coming out of the cupboard, and immediately ran into the kitchen squealing in delight, “Pancakes? Pancakes?”

We have many of these kinds of rituals as a family.  And I hope you do too. It’s these family rituals  that define our memories.

We have our traditions of Spaghetti Sundays, or for instance whenever it is someone’s birthday, we get donuts.  I don’t know how it started, but we always get donuts that night and sing Happy Birthday.

We have our Bible time in the morning and prayers at night.
We have certain games we like to play.
We have rituals, that are just ours…

And if we weren’t to do these things, something would feel out of place…

Having these kinds of traditions really make your kids feel a part of something.  Your family.  And that is very important, especially as they grow up.  Identifying themselves with a family, and feeling like an important member of that family is vital.  Otherwise they seek to define their identity with other things such as peers or possibly bad influences.

But when they feel a part of the family, they have an identity.  They have a place.

Don’t underestimate the importance of such rituals for our children.  It gives them routine, and it gives them traditions.  It is something that they will look back on someday and remember.

You see, it’s not just about the pancakes.  Sure they enjoy eating them.  But deep down I think it’s the feeling of home.  Of stability.  Of family.  That this is something WE do each week. It’s a special time.

So go and make traditions with your family…make unique memories.  Make rituals.

Your family will thank you…

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Proverbs 22:6