Your Kids Need The Family Reunion: Here’s 5 Reasons Why You Should Go

Nothing says summer like a gathering of Black folk congregating outside. There’s thick, flavored smoke rising from the meat on the grill. Screaming, laughing kids are weaving in and out of circles of adults talking. Drinks are swimming in a bucket of ice. There’s a lively card game going on and all the people are wearing matching shirts. Cue The O’Jays: A Family Reunion. The gathering of kinfolk is sacred. It’s rooted in our ancestors’ desire to connect with their loved ones that had been strewn and scattered as a result of chattel slavery in the United States. 

The family reunion may have been a part of our past but I fear too many of us are losing recipes. Gone are the days when entire branches of families live within hundreds of miles of one another. These days we’re spread out across the country and world. And whether it was COVID, busy work schedules or the other demands and distractions of life, I’ve noticed that the family reunion is falling lower and lower on the priority list. But now more than ever, it’s important to maintain our communities and the first community is the family. If you’re fortunate enough to belong to a group of people who are safe and loving, here are some reasons you should take your children and yourself to the family reunion. 

Family Lore

There’s no tea like family tea. As a child who yearned to be in all the adult conversations, I’m happy to now be privy to all of the scandalous details of my family history that I couldn’t always hear back in the day. But more than drama and salaciousness, the stories of our people are important. At a time when the government is actively dealing in erasure, it’s important to preserve our own legacy.

Connection to the Past

It’s one thing to read about Black history in the inadequate ways it’s depicted in school. It’s an entirely different thing to sit at the table with a relative as they regale you with stories about the segregated South, fighting in foreign wars, navigating racism in educational institutions. History comes alive when you get to talk to the people who lived it. If you’re hearing it from family, there’s a greater chance that you’re going to get the real and not some whitewashed version. 

A Chance to Engage with the Elders

Even with the best intentions, it’s hard to keep in touch with all of our loved ones. Life gets hectic. We put things off and then before you know it, it’s too late. Instead of promising to call, make the investment of traveling to sit with your elders, speak with them face to face. Hear their stories, opinions etc. This is also a great time to record them either visually or auditorily to make sure those memories are archived. 

Cousin Time 

Some of my fondest childhood memories include some of the shenanigans I got into with my cousins. Whether it was the inappropriate conversations, the gossip, the pranks, the games we created or putting together a dance routine, that time was beautiful and pure. I have forty first cousins. And while that won’t be my children’s story, I pray that they build similar bonds with the people in their generation as well. The right type of cousins can be like siblings. It’s important to foster those bonds.

A Deeper Understanding of Yourself 

DNA is complex. We like to think that our characteristics came from one of our two parents. But our identities are layered. Being around extended family members can point to some of the characteristics you inherited from an aunt, great grandmother, cousin. Being around family shines a light on yourself in ways you might not have imagined.