News And Events

The Beauty of Rituals

Rituals are different from everyday routines. Rituals transform an ordinary moment into an extraordinary one! When we create beautiful rituals for children, we are giving them an irresistible invitation to participate in something meaningful and to engage and connect with others.

Rituals provide children with a sense of security, comfort, wellbeing, and emotional safety. Small moments every day can become beautiful rituals, such as setting a table for kai with thoughtfulness, preparing a calming space for nap time, or reading a special bedtime story each night. Sharing a meal together as a family is a beautiful ritual, especially in this fast-paced world of online communication.

Special events in your family that are celebrated as rituals provide a sense of belonging for children as they can anticipate and feel comforted by how they will be involved with it. Rituals such as baking together each birthday, a special kai at Matariki, attending an ANZAC dawn parade, or going on an easter egg hunt each year, are all rituals that children can contribute to and participate in.

As the heartschool.nz notes: “Rituals provide a richness - for our people and from our people. These are so interwoven, the participant in the magic is also the recipient of the magic, for our little ones, and us big ones too. Rituals are not just fuel or our children, they are fuel for us too.”