I started a new family tradition a few weeks ago. Admittedly, it was created by that little control freak in me who wants to feel that my family is always safe and secure. It comes from the worrier in me who likes to “keep tabs.” I want to know what the temperature and pulse of my family and its individual members are, on a regular basis. Now my immediate family has a majority male contingent. There is my husband and three sons and then there is me and my daughter. I had to come up with a tradition that was going to be easily doable and interesting enough to keep the attention of an intense middle-aged executive, a young twenty-something on his own, a college fraternity man, two busy teenagers and me, their fearless leader. The one thing that we all have in common is a streak of competitiveness. So, I came up with Family Hashtag.
Every single day, we have agreed to text to a family chat, a # and then at least one word that describes our individual day. The competitive part comes in with the idea of how long can we keep the streak going? Admittedly, I’m usually the first one to post on a daily basis. I guess I serve as a reminder that this tradition isn’t going away anytime soon.
It is amazing what one word to a few words after a hashtag, can convey. Believe it or not, you can almost tell someone’s mood or “state of being” from just one little 3-second text. Examples: #ihatemath, #coffeeingallons, #relief Sometimes my family members are feeling tricky and mysterious and will post something quizzical that makes us all want to know more. Then, the chat gets a little more involved and interesting. At the very least, what I definitely know from my little daily game is that all of my family members are alive and breathing and still interested in keeping a connection with our little family unit. I highly recommend this game to all of my readers’ families, especially families run by sly Momagers like me.