The Heart of a Family: Searching America for New Traditions That Fulfill Us

When I divorced my husband, I was looking for ways to heal my family and to provide additional support for the challenges children of divorce face. This is a wonderful book and has ideas for every type of family. The ideas cover every day activities as well as holidays, and includes great ideas for extraordinary days to be recognized as children grow up and face their own trials. The "how to" do your own traditions is effective and powerful. I have been divorced two years now and feel happy and confident that my family will be okay. The rituals and traditions we are building have healed and strengthened our bonds as a family. By the way, during the divorce I went to a child psychologist for advice on my children's welfare. All of her suggestions sounded so familiar, I asked if she had read this book. She had and uses it as a key reference for counselling families.

Meg Cox's Book, "The Heart of a Family," is among my all-time favorites in my collection of family life books. Many of our family's traditions are accounted in "The Heart of a Family" but in reading it I discovered the power and significance of keeping traditions all over again. I couldn't put it down. I appreciated the diversity represented as traditions are never "one size fits all." Meg's approach is merely to paint a picture of what other families are doing, not to promote specific ways of doing things and that is very effective. I enjoyed the mix of special occasion and holiday traditions as well as day-to-day rituals and also was inspired to try some new ideas with our family of four teens. I wish this book had been available when our children were young as many of the ideas of the other families seem so meaningful as well as a lot of fun. It is hard to start TOO many new ways of doing thing with teenagers! I highly recommend it to all families, especially those with young children as a powerful tool to help shape the identity of a family. L'Tishia Suk

God But I Loved This Book! I have no idea why it affected me so powerfully but I was nearly in tears in the first thirty pages. Maybe the book tapped into my deepest memories of rituals from my childhood. Maybe it was a lack of rituals I was lamenting. Perhaps it's the new rituals my wife and I are creating in our new home and in our new marriage. Regardless, I found myself reliving moments from my past and I was very moved. There were so many beautiful stories and thoughtful ideas in the book. I wanted to meet many of the people who contributed their rituals. The way the author weaves herself and her own story into the book made it so much more accessible than it would have been otherwise. It gave the book a soft but strong spine. Well-written, well-designed, and rich with practical ideas, this book can help any family to deepen the bonds between its members and infuse the mundane events of everyday life with special, long-lasting meaning.

Ms. Cox has provided a solid foundation to describe what makes families special and why rituals are the bedrock of our greatest moments of closeness within the family circle. As a single mother, I was thrilled to discover so many easy and practical ways to create meaningful moments in the lives of my children while still giving them the opportunity to create and influence the process of family unity in a sometimes hostile world. This book is a must for all parents who feel strongly about keeping their children involved in family life because it reminds us of the basics: you can not create a perfect world for your children but you can give them a loving family to support them throughout their lives. This book provides ways to achieve a united and joyful family without being preachy or making you feel that you must follow some prescribed list of activities.

The Heart of the Family is a delightful read--and the perfect book for anyone who celebrates any and every kind of event and builds tradition around such celebrations. It is the perfect holiday gift and a great tension reliever for those you know who devote time and energy to entertaining others and making special days and events even more special. As an added bonus, family has all sorts of meaning for Cox and she portrays all sorts of families and their particular traditions, many of which they have created for themselves. A feel good book with depth and insight.