International Family Day – Celebrating with the family
“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.”
– George Santayana.
Celebrate Your Family
Today is International Family Day, a day instituted by the United Nations in 1994. This was an initiative to recognize the significance of having healthy and happy families. The day helps understand the social, economic and demographic challenges families face around the world.
A family is the most basic unit of society. It instills its members with a sense of citizenship, giving the members an identity. All forms of social development start at the family – from education of children, to better health care of elders through material and emotional support. Families are based on a mutual support system, where every member is cherished.
International Family Day highlights the importance of families, not just as social units but also as nurturing entities. While parents provide their children with necessities such as food and clothing, their bigger role is to provide love and care, foster values and raise them to be responsible and empathetic individuals.
Making memories with Family
The COVID-19 lockdown and quarantine weighed heavily on the world as a whole. Families were torn apart, living a stranded life of solitude. Social distancing, travel restrictions and other safety precautions made it difficult to meet and celebrate with loved ones. As a result, people missed out on once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and celebrations. Be it a child’s first birthday, a family wedding or a graduation ceremony, important milestones were missed.
Additionally, the lockdown also affected the holiday spirit. Holiday periods are accompanied by traditions unique to each family. Instead of rushing to buy diyas for Diwali, buying dazzling ornaments for the christmas tree, or hunting for the perfect water gun for Holi, families were stuck at home.
Nevertheless, people refused to let these circumstances dampen their spirits and started to envision new ways to celebrate with their families. Through regular video chats or long talks on the phone, sending online gifts to one another, sharing hobbies, families found new ways to connect with one another. While they couldn’t relive the memories from pre-Covid times, families were successful in making new ones.
Ways To Celebrate with the Family in the Pandemic
International Family Day celebrates the differences in all families, regardless of ethnicity, composition or size. Here are some ways you can celebrate your family if you are in a lockdown due to the pandemic:
- Try spending some time together to play a board game, solve puzzles or simply sit together. Having fun together will build stronger relationships
- Have an open talk with each member of the family to understand what issues they might be facing. Involve everyone in formulating solutions. By the end of this activity, family members will be able to empathize better with each other.
- Have a fun family photo shoot to capture all your sweet memories forever.
- Host a virtual party through a video- conferencing platform such as Zoom/ Google meet.
- Go on a trip down memory-lane by flipping through old family photo albums.
- Have gifts such as flowers, cakes, customized mugs delivered to your loved ones to mark this special occasion.
A more meaningful way to come together as a family is to reach out to other helpless and less fortunate families who suffer during tough times like the Covid pandemic. Group activities such as fundraising in the family name, donating to charities by collecting funds from your extended family members and volunteering as a family remind us of how important our own families are, and how fortunate we are to be born into them.
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– Written by Anushka Agrawal
