Each new year, we all set goals in hopes of making the best of the months to come. New Year's resolutions don't have to stop at your personal goals. This New Year, make resolutions that will help everyone in your family and bring you together more.
Mobile Phone for Kids
This is a time to encourage growth, commitment, and goal-setting. This year could make your family healthier and help eliminate bad habits for your children. You can take this time to teach better habits and pick some up along the way. Consider these goals for the New Year as a way to be a better parent and make a better family.
Unplug More
As the New Year begins, commit to unplugging more from technology that steals time from your family. Technology is a remarkable gift, but it can also be a curse. This year, decide on rules you can share with your family that will give you more time together.
It starts before the holidays. When considering gift ideas for young children, don't buy them the latest smartphone. A young child isn't ready for what awaits on social media and the internet. Give them a cell phone for kids that doesn’t have internet, games, or social media.
Set rules for how much time they spend on computers, TV, and video games. Make sure you follow the rules, too. This will give you time as a family to enjoy physical activities, game nights, and more. Create "tech-free" areas of your home, with no TVs in bedrooms and no phones during meals.
Discuss why setting limits on technology is important for your family. Use the time to enjoy activities together. This is the year you can spend more quality time as a family.
Make More Memories Together
You already know it is important for parents to carve time out for themselves with a date night. It is also important for parents to host a special time for the family to spend together.
You can decide as a family what activities you want to enjoy together. Take a day trip to a nearby attraction. Schedule a game night each week. Plan a picnic at a local park. Make plans for a special family vacation that everyone can be excited about.
This is a chance to build memories as a family that your children will never forget. It can be as simple as a regular family meal each week that features fancier dishes than your daily dinner.
Also, make sure to give each child quality time. Commit to spending one-on-one time each week with each child so they know how special they are. This is a great time to learn more about what each child is thinking and doing.
Learn More Together
There is truth in the line, teach your children well. The time you spend teaching your children will stay with them forever. Help them grow through learning more about other cultures and beliefs. Give them space to explore their own views, not just parroting yours.
Your child will learn to communicate with others by the way you communicate with them. Help them understand the importance of equality and empathy. Give them the opportunity to share what is on their mind without interjecting. This is a good way to learn if they are having trouble with friends and siblings. Help them find solutions to problems in these relationships without telling them exactly what they must do.
This is an important time to teach your children social skills and problem resolution. It is also an important time to learn more about your children's struggles. Learn together now so that when they are older, they will appreciate what you taught them about communication.
Promote the Positive
This year, commit to focusing on what is positive in your life. You may find as you encounter colleagues or friends, there is more negative than positive. Perhaps you feel bad after spending time on social media. Identify what makes you happy and the things in your life that are negative. A great resolution could be focusing on the positive in your life and eliminating the negative.
This is also a good lesson for your children. They are not emotionally mature, so these negative influences can impact them more. Pay attention to what affects them. Share with them the steps you have taken to promote the positive. Chances are your example will inspire them to make their own changes.
Make sure to discuss how negative influences in their life can distort their reality. Someone's negative behavior on social media doesn't define your child. A conflict with a classmate can be resolved. Give your child the tools you use to cope with negativity.
As you focus on the positive in your life, your child learns they can do the same.
Get Healthy Together
Every new year brings resolutions of exercise and diet. Although often those resolutions aren't realistic, you can set goals that will improve your family's health.
First, commit to healthier eating as a family. Even if it is one night a week, set a goal to make one healthy meal to enjoy together. Perhaps you find yourselves eating fast food during the week. Set a goal to reduce the number of fast-food meals to once a month. Replace sugary snacks with alternatives like fruit, hummus, or vegetables.
Second, commit to exercising as a family. You don't have to buy everyone a gym membership. Set time aside for neighborhood walks. Make plans to ride bikes together. Schedule visits to the community pool together.
The healthy habits you establish in the new year can stay with your child as an adult. Just make sure to stick to the goals and set new ones as those are accomplished.
Tagged in Parenting