I took a bit of a break from the blogs to really focus on celebrating the holidays with my family. And for the most part, they were a success, from Thanksgiving in the deep South to Christmas in our nation’s capital. The Davis family made tremendous strides in creating fun and memorable family traditions that will stay with us through the years, regardless of the many moves we’ve made and the ones we’ll undoubtedly make in the years yet to come.
And now we’ve come to the cusp of yet another New Year’s Eve. A time in which we get to reflect upon the successes and accomplishments of the previous year and focus on creating new goals for ourselves. We see it everywhere, right? New Year, New You. Now, when I was coming up, resolutions were something that really only adults made. Well, at least in my neck of the woods. As a kid, I wasn’t too worried about New Year’s resolutions as much as I was into planning my kick-ass New Year’s Eve sleepover parties year after year. But in our new world, kids more than ever before get to make choices for themselves! And so with that, we have decided as a family to create fun, and realistic new goals for the New Year.
So how can you help kids of any age create tangible yet creative goals for the New Year?
- Keep them few, 1 to 3 max. Kids can get overwhelmed quickly so depending on the age, helping kids create just one to three new goals for the new year will keep it easy and doable.
- Keep goals visible. My kids are very visual so we have found this printable and plan to let the kids choose three to complete. Then we will make copies for their rooms, the home office, and their homework folders.
Each Davis kiddo will get to pick 1 to 3 goals to try to achieve in 2019. The choice is theirs! - Make a plan. Kids our age often depend on tangible rewards for even the simplest of tasks. Creating appropriate rewards for weekly, or even daily, achievement of said goal will further encourage them to keep making good choices throughout the year, and will teach them the value and the tremendous pride had in reaching one’s goals.
- Be flexible. As adults, we like to make a plan and stick to it, especially when it comes to creating New Year’s resolutions. But kids thrive when they are allowed to make their own choices, which often includes the freedom to change their minds. Don’t be afraid to let them know that it is okay to change a goal, especially if it seems a little too challenging for them. But in the same way, be encouraging. Often kids will want to quit something that seems too hard. Let them know it’s okay to not get it right the first or first 5 times even. One of the best lessons we can get from setting goals is the experience of failure.
- Be the example. It wouldn’t be fair, or fun even, if we expected our kids to make and stick to goals while we glide through the New Year without any of our own. When your kids see you strive to reach for something new and challenging, without any visible fear or hesitance, they too will be more willing to try something new. We are the most influential people in their lives. We’ve got to make our actions count for something more than what simply comes out of our mouths.
So what are some of your New Year’s goals? Are you all going to jump into the New Year swinging for the fences, together? Let me know what plans you have to make 2019 the best year ever for your family!
The Blackbird's Compass 