Determine What The Holidays Mean To You

By Momie Tullottes, Contributing Writer

The shops and lamp posts along the city streets are adorned with wreaths, bows and garlands. The hustle and bustle of the city has picked up its pace, due to gift, food and decoration shopping. And you and your children may be among those shoppers.

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The holidays are drawing near, and with all the excitement over presents, feasts and decorations, perhaps the important thing that often falls by the wayside is why we celebrate the holidays in the first place.

Determine Your Family's Personal Meaning

When explaining the meaning of the holidays to your children, you must first determine what the holidays mean to your family specifically. The exact meaning will vary from family to family, but the underlying meanings of the holidays can be similar.

Many people believe that family is a big part of the true meaning of the holidays. Some also believe giving to others holds a deep meaning during the holidays. Special time spent with those you are closest to can be another meaning behind the holidays. For others, the holidays can hold a religious meaning.

There are always opportune moments to seize for holiday conversations with your child. While gift shopping with your child, you can mention that while some people may be buying gifts, it is not as important to receive as it is to give. Explain to your child how great it feels to give to others.

One way to re-enforce that idea is to have your child do something special for someone else. It could be walking the dog of an immobile neighbor or carrying in someone's groceries from the car. It may even be as simple as creating a drawing or craft that is uniquely special to the one it is given to.

Another moment to explain the meaning of the holidays could come during grocery shopping to feed visiting relatives. Explain how important family is and what role they may play in holiday festivities, as well as how important it is for families to gather together and celebrate. Spending time together, for some families, only occurs during holidays. For those families it can be extra special.

Putting The Meaning Into Action

There are other ways to get the point across to your child, through the aid of the Internet. Try a few history lessons on the holidays from the Web site of the History channel, for example.

While discussing various holidays celebrated in December, try discussing with the child common elements, including giving, spending time with family and thinking of others. And as an extra activity, parents can have their child color some family-themed coloring pages from a site like Edupics online.

Perhaps you are on a travel Web site and are researching the best prices for your family member to visit you. A nice gesture that could provide a great example for your child would be for you to pay some or all of your family member's traveling expenses to come visit you.

Donating to those who are in need can also be a wonderful example of teaching the true meaning of the holidays to children. If you are searching online for possible places to donate to, Revolution Health's Web site has an easily accessible list of non-profit organizations that you may want to consider choosing from.

In essence, the methods used to explain the true meaning behind the holidays can vary. For many, the holidays hold a spiritual or religious meaning. Be sure to take time out to explain the origins of whatever holiday you are celebrating.

In the end, which methods you choose to implement don't matter as much as actually getting the point across.