Family Traditions

"Make the honoring of family traditions and the development of new ones a priority throughout your lives.  Holiday traditions, birthday traditions, Sunday traditions, dinner-time traditions- honor them, write them down and make certain you follow them.  Studies show that the reason young people join gangs is for the tradition and ritual of belonging to something larger than self.  This is what a family should be.  Be certain you are creating a rich environment for your family to look forward to these special times of the year when traditions hold you together as an eternal family unit. 

Please understand this is neither a simple nor an easy solution.  Just as Rome was not built in a day, neither are family traditions.  Family traditions can offer the basic and lasting support, but there's a lot that must be build around them.  Perhaps, family traditions only work when they create a role for every member of the family, and there is united effort to build them.  This means family members need to spend time together and also learn how to work together.  When it comes to families, there is no such thing as quality time without a certain quantity of time."
Elder L. Tom Perry, BYU-Idaho Devotional, January 24, 2012.