Parenting Decoded: Celebrating Festivals With Kids

It is that time of the year when we forget our worries and revel with our near and dear ones. Yes! It is festival time. Time to celebrate the joy of giving, sharing and partying! In this edition of Parenting Decoded, we put together a list of posts from our authors on festivals and celebrations.

1. As we grow older, we cherish memories of precious moments more than ever. Gauri Venkitaraman reminisces the Onam celebrations in her house. Read how she recreated a similar magical atmosphere for her children and relived her childhood once again.
2. What festivals really mean for our kids in the age of nuclear families and busy lives? Is it the rituals, the food, the tradition and culture? Madhavi Mukherjee says that festivals aren’t the same as what they were two decades ago. She rues that she may only be able to pass on a fraction, of what her parents taught her about festivals, to her daughter.
3. Does that mean, with changing times, we have to change the rituals a bit for our children to enjoy them better? Sapna Agarwal tells us how she reinvented Rakshabandhan in her family and why it made perfect sense.
4. Speaking of Rakshabandhan, can a thread really bind siblings together? Or is it just for signifying your love? Cynthia Rodrigues writes about how, in spite of lack of the thread or ceremony, she and her brother share a really strong bond.
5. Sometimes, traditions associated to festivals seem boring. Until you have kids in the house. That is when we parents are overcome with an urge to celebrate every small thing to make it a joyous event for them.  Read how Sirisha Achanta switched from being cynical about festivals to making sure her little one enjoys every detailed celebration.
6. The underlying message every festival tries to give is of righteousness and virtue. But should we impose our thoughts on our little ones? Sakshi Nanda dressed her son as Ravana for his preschool Dassera celebrations. After all, Ravana had virtues too, and we should let the kids make a choice.
7. Living in cosmopolitan India has its advantages, inclusivity of religion – the biggest one. Debolina Raja Gupta thinks it’s a privilege to be able to celebrate and be part of festivals from all religions in this diverse country.
8. But what if your family itself is made up of members from different cultures? Isn’t it an added bonus for the kids in it? They get to enjoy both cultures in equal measures and also imbibe the values first hand. Ronita Maitra tells how precious the celebrations in her multicultural home are.
9. Do you know the traditions and importance of all festivals? Even those outside your religion? Prasad NP was stumped when his kids asked him the importance of Eid. He then made a sincere effort to know more about Eid, he owed it to his children.
10. And how can there be no mention of Diwali when we are talking about festivals, right? Moushumi A. writes about Diwali traditions, new and old, and how they’re changing with the times. Are our children getting trapped in the clutches of comfort and money? Will they take our rich culture and legacy forward?
11. What makes your child’s Diwali special? Exchanging packets of sweets or dressing up in the best clothes? Right from house cleaning to lighting of lamps in the evening, Gauri Venkitaraman talks about the warmth that the festival of light brings.
12. We all get nostalgic about the good old days especially the ones during Diwali. The togetherness, the bonhomie and celebrating rituals with each other. Yamini Vijendran writes about spending the best Diwali at her maternal grandmother’s house.
13. We end with this heart-warming post by Vinita Bahl where she writes about how her daughter made Diwali special for a lesser fortunate friend of hers. After all, spreading the light and love makes all festivals worth celebrating, right?

*And before you think we have forgotten about the merry festival of Christmas, let us assure you that we haven’t. There are a lot of posts about Santa and the spirit of Xmas that we thought they deserve a separate edition.

Let us know how you liked our compilation and what you loved reading the best, in comments below.