02 Jan 2020
Making New Year’s Resolutions Together
Like most parents, you may have personal new year’s resolutions as well as resolutions for your family. While you can’t make resolutions for other people, your family can focus on making resolutions together, with the goal of improving family dynamics and routines. In order to have a fresh start, it is important to take stock of 2019 to see what went well and what did not. For example, did homework time go smoothly? Did everyone do their chores? Was there more cooperation than yelling?
You can start by having each family member write down what in your household routine went well and what can be improved. Then for things that need to be improved, have a family discussion to determine how. Can you all come to agreement on this, or can you try a couple of different changes to see which one works best? You as parents may be very surprised to see your child’s point of view.
- Review successes and accomplishments of 2019.
- Parents should share their goals first by being models.
- Think about goals on an individual level as well as family goals.
- Narrow down your goals to an achievable number, perhaps 6 or fewer.
- Make sure your goals are concrete and specific. (Instead of “I will read more books this year,” “I will read one book a month. I will start with _________ and start reading it on Jan. 4th.”
- Monitor goals during the year. Lapses do not mean you are failure. You may need to modify goals as you go along, or modify the way to get there.
- Make this clear – asking for help is OK and encouraged.
January is a great time to regroup. One resolution everyone should make it to start the year with a positive attitude and treat setbacks as learning opportunities.
