A Twist on Blessing Our Children

The "Chat Pack" was not at all what the kids wanted to do on Friday night. They were instead ready to share all they had learned about the tradition of a parent giving a blessing to their child. We too have a tradition each week around this special blessing. We give each child their own blessing in order of oldest to youngest. We do not take gender into account. After the blessing, each child shares something from the week that made them feel proud and we in return share something they did that made us feel proud. We began this tradition on Rosh Hashanah and have kept it up so far all year. I love watching them each week. Their personalities and priorities shine right through. There are weeks when someone is ready to burst with excitement and other weeks when they struggle to find something that made them really proud. Sometimes they try to guess what we will say before we share our thoughts. Sometimes in the buzz of a busy week, we forget to point out the positives. It was very clear as they shared the story of Jacob blessing his sons that they do understand how special it is!