One of the habits on the list I wrote about recently involved creating family rituals. As is my wont, I got to thinking about this. I like the idea of rituals. I think repetition is important to kids as it gives them a sense of stability and familiarity. They can take comfort in knowing that certain events take place no matter what, even if it's not always what they want to do most. An unpredictable, free-form lifestyle can be frightening -- they never know what's coming next.

We have a lot of things we do regularly as a family: Thursday nights we hang out at a local nursing home, Friday nights are Burrito Night, Sundays, after swim class, we generally go out for lunch. Every June we go to Calistoga with the whole extended family and in February, we go to Lake Tahoe. That's all in addition to the regular sit-down-together dinner every night and the story before bed.

What are your family rituals? Do you have plans for any new ones?