One personal reason why I enjoy facilitating family therapy is that I learn valuable insights from the families I work with. Each family who participates in family therapy bring their own unique wisdom, insight, and life meaning to each session.
Family traditions is an area that I appreciate hearing about in family therapy sessions. This has helped spark ideas for my own family in our own traditions.
Family traditions help bring a family closer together. It provides a time for family members to connect through a shared experience.
As we approach the holiday season, it is helpful to highlight the importance of family traditions. Family traditions are rituals that family members engage in to help create shared meaning.
Rituals are the actions we perform and the words that we say that help us feel connected to each other. Shared meaning describes a family's mutual goals, values and interests.
One of the ways to experience deeper connection and richer meaning during the holiday season is to create new family traditions. New family traditions are a way to shake things up and help one experience the magic of the holiday season in a fresh way.
A Family Therapist's Suggestions on Creating Family Traditions Around the Holidays
Many of us already have family traditions that have been passed down through the generations. With your family, you can create a shared family tradition together.
Below are some suggestions of family traditions that as a family therapist, I list to help spark your own creativity:
Family Breakfast on Sundays
Encourage each member of the family to spend time together on Sunday morning. Have everyone join in the fun. Parents and kids can cook together while listening to their favorite holiday tunes.
When you sit down to eat, make sure phones and other screens are put away. Take this time to highlight the things that you are grateful for.
Dinner with Grandparents
If you have grandparents that live nearby, this is an opportunity to connect over generational lines. Grandparents have wisdom and experience to share with their grandchildren.
Grandchildren have a zest and energy that can breathe new life into the grandparents. Both generations need each other.
If grandparents don't live close by, you can still encourage connection over FaceTime or Zoom.
Take a Trip to the Library
Who reads anymore? With the extra time off from school, parents can encourage their children to check out a book or two from the local library. Parents need to do the same thing.
Take time to discuss as a family what you are reading and learning about. Parents and children often have a hard time finding material to talk about. A book can be a great conversation starter.
Tell The Story of Your Family History
Do your children know how you and your partner got together? Do they know anything about their grandparent's culture?
During this holiday season, take time to explore your family history. You can even create a family tree that illustrates all the interesting timelines and connections.
A family tree can help your children feel more rooted in the past. This can be a ritual that incorporates an arts and crafts component. Get creative!
Volunteer Together
There are plenty of people in your community who don't have the same resources and opportunities that you have. During the holiday season, pick a charity or non-profit to invest in as a family.
Parents and children can serve together at a homeless shelter or take part in an animal rescue event. Those that serve together build meaning and purpose together.
Create a Gratitude Jar
Challenge each member of the family to write down one thing they are thankful for. After writing it down they can throw it into the collective jar.
At the end of the week, you can gather as a family and share all the things that were written. This can be a powerful way to express appreciation and love for each other.
Family Therapy Can Also Help Strengthen Family Bonds
No family is perfect! Every family has dynamics that need to be explored and worked on. Even if your family is not in crisis, family therapy could be a beneficial thing to explore.
Family therapy can be a ritual that helps each member express their feelings and better appreciate the other members' perceptive. Family therapy can be a useful check-in to measure how everyone is doing and what if anything needs to be changed.
Begin Family Therapy at Katy Teen & Family Counseling: Katy, Tx & Houston
At Katy Teen & Family Counseling, we have 50+ years of combined experience in providing family therapy. An experienced family therapist can help your family overcome those struggles that impact the strength of your family relationships.
Our Katy, Tx location of Katy Teen and Family Counseling, is conveniently located off of I-10 and 99. We are about 4-5 blocks behind the Academy Sports in Katy, Tx.
Start family counseling today. It can make a significant difference not only in your family relationships of today, but for tomorrow and the rest of your lives.
If you are ready to start family therapy, it's as simple as following these three simple steps:
Contact Katy Teen & Family Counseling
Speak with one of our caring family therapists
Let us help you strengthen your family relationships and restore happiness
Other Therapy & Counseling Services Offered at Katy Teen & Family Counseling: Serving Katy, Tx & Houston
At the Katy, Tx location of Katy Teen & Family Counseling, we also provide teen therapy, young adult counseling, as well as marriage counseling or couples therapy.
Below are a few of the other counseling services we provide for teens, families, and young adults in Katy, Tx and Houston:
Board Certified Neurofeedback Therapy
Peak performance (optimal academic brain performance)
Peak performance (optimal athletic brain performance)
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR Therapy)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
About the Author
Quique Autrey is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and an experienced family therapist.
Quique views each individual through the lens of the family system. Through this lens he provides: teen therapy, young adult counseling, family counseling, marriage counseling & couples therapy.
Quique has helped those who experience depression, anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety, ADHD/ADD, and is trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
Quique also has a passion for helping teens, young adults, and adults who may be on the Autism Spectrum. He has a talent for connecting with and helping people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
If you're ready to start your healing journey in family therapy, you can call us at 346-202-4662 or email us at info@katyteenandfamilycounseling.com.
