Traditions are an important part of family life. Traditions not only create positive feelings and a sense of belonging, they help parents pass their values on to their children. There's a good reason why, as parents, we often find ourselves repeating some of our favorite family traditions with our own children.

Today was my older daughter's first day of kindergarten, so we're just starting to form our own back-to-school traditions. Ours are pretty simple -- a shopping day spent just with Mom, a special breakfast that first morning, and a picture taken on our front porch, where all milestone pictures are staged. Then, we all walk to school together as a family. It's only our second year of school, but I particularly hope that we can keep that last one up.

Tip Junkie has collected an interesting list of back-to-school traditions from other parents, and Family Fun has some great ideas for celebrating that first day of school. Real Simple has tips for creating family traditions any time of year.

Of course, the best parenting tips usually come from other parents, so let's hear it: What do you do to make the first day of school special?