{"id":4287,"date":"2017-12-07T10:52:10","date_gmt":"2017-12-07T15:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/?p=4287"},"modified":"2017-11-28T22:12:35","modified_gmt":"2017-11-29T03:12:35","slug":"christmas-with-college-and-adult-children-other-traditions-with-part-or-all-of-the-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/christmas-with-college-and-adult-children-other-traditions-with-part-or-all-of-the-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas With College & Adult Children: Tips for Keeping Traditions with Grown Children"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In a previous blog post, I discussed the importance of finding out those traditions that mean a lot to your college and adult kids so that they do not feel left out of the things you are doing in your home \u2013 especially the things that you used to do when they were little. In another post, I talked about the invitation versus obligation. (Read that here<\/strong><\/a>…that\u2019s important!)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This post will focus on the latter. We try to continue many traditions with our high school kids and our college kids living at home, but at the same time, we don’t want to leave out the adult children who are away from home–or impose upon them either. This is a fine balance. Because of this, we recommend that you invite them to some of those things, but be sure that they do not see those things as obligations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Also, especially for your married children, we recommend that you encourage them to begin their own traditions in their own homes. If they feel like they constantly have to come to your house throughout December in order not to disappoint you or miss a “tradition,” they will likely not have the time or the initiative to begin their own traditions. Regardless of how much you might want all of your children there all of the time, we encourage you to help your adult children see their marriages and their families as their first priorities.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\nSo what about the other traditions? Yes, invite them when appropriate, but don’t push.<\/h3>\n