Do you make them with the best intentions to keep them... but a couple of days later decide to quit?
What kind of resolutions do you make?
Are they generic? Specific?
Do you set dates and goals to accomplish them?
Several years ago, my husband and I started making Family New Year Resolutions, except we call them Life Changes. It all started because one year my husband said that he wanted to work on gratitude for the next year. And that just spiraled into us making thankfulness something we wanted to work on as an entire family. That year, we really took the time to thank everyone who helped us in anyway, whether with time or generosity. We wanted to make sure that the people in our lives knew how truly thankful we are for them! And now, being thankful is second nature to all of us. We decided to make a life change in our family and used the New Year as a starting point.
That was just the beginning of our yearly family resolutions or life changes. In the years that followed, we have worked on organization, decluttering, spending less & making more of our gifts, learning to be more frugal & save money and last year we focused on healing our family & fixing our eyes on the Lord. I believe this has resulted in our family becoming better people - people who are constantly on the hunt to be the best we can be!
These areas are extremely broad topics so we narrow them down and then set more specific goals to achieve as a family. This year we have decided to work on being healthier. This is a super broad topic that could apply to many things. We are going to work on several specific areas eating, sleeping and exercise.
Please note: WE ARE NOT GOING ON A DIET!!!! Diets were made to be broken! However, we want to gradually move our poor eating choices to eating more naturally. Meaning, we want to eat more fresh fruits, veggies and non processed foods. This is not something we are doing cold turkey. That would not work for my family. However, we have set specific goals into place to help us achieve our long term vision. My entire family, including me, would live on fast food if we could afford it! We are definitely fast food junkies. We love sweets, chips, all those good ol' non healthy things! The funny thing is my kids LOVE fruits and veggies, too. So, we are taking their love for plant based products and running with it!
When making a resolution stick, it has to be something my family is willing to do. And, when setting a goal such as eating healthier, we also need to have rewards. We love a thick, juicy, cheesy, bacony hamburger or a hot cheesy melty pizza. Why not let that be a reward? The beauty is that it will taste that much yummier when it is special and once in a while!
I have always believed that you need to reward yourself, whether it is eating healthy for a week and treating yourself to frozen yogurt. Or maybe its getting all your things done without procrastinating so you treat yourself to a movie night. Or maybe you exercised everyday and so you get a day to be lazy. Whatever it is, you need to reward yourself for accomplishing small goals. Just remember... moderation. Its ok to have that frozen yogurt, but get the small size with fruit on top instead of the ginormous order that makes you sick to your stomach! Just sayin'!
The second part of my family's being healthier resolution is sleeping. We are horrible at sticking to a routine, which is why the area of sleeping is an area that needs work. Especially when it comes to our two year old. He doesn't want to sleep in his bed and even if he does go to sleep in his bed at the start of the night, he wakes up in the middle and climbs into ours. This results in neither my hubby nor myself getting a great night of sleep. Without proper sleep, our body can not function properly.
Through pinterest, I found a chart for proper sleep times of children on angie's list. You can check it out below or at the following link: http://www.angieslist.com/articles/infographic-bedtime-how-much-sleep-should-your-child-be-getting.htm?CID=Social09202012BedtimeGraphic This chart recommends 10-11 hours of sleep for 7-12 year olds. I know my 6 year old and eight year old do not get that much. We are constantly on the go and often trade sleep for doing other things.
We are making a couple of specific goals in the area of sleep. First, we are deciding on a schedule that fits our family and then sticking to it as much as possible. Our schedule will not be the same every day of the week, since our activities and my hubby's work schedule are not the same every day. However, the bedtime routine will remain the same no matter what time it starts.
Second, we are just going to have to say no to some of those activities that do not coincide with our schedule. It is the only way we will be able to stick to healthier sleeping and eating habits. The schedule may have to change as the seasons change or as activities change... But that is Okay! The whole point of this is to make it work for our family. No family is exactly alike - so why try to make my family fit into another family's schedule? It just won't work. I have to do what is best for us!
We also have rewards for our kids (like I mentioned earlier, rewards are important for adults too!!) If they get all of their night time chores done and are in bed on time without my hubby or me having to remind them they get a "ticket" on their chore chart. These tickets are used to turn in for prizes, 15 minutes of a video game or TV, to name just a few. (More on our chore chart in a future post.)
The last part of our being healthier resolution is exercising more. We LOVE to ride bikes, but never seem to have enough time. We are going to make it a part of our weekly routine/schedule. It has to be scheduled in or it won't get done. Our goal is to take 2 rides per week and do one other type of exercise twice a week, whether it is dancing, walking, soccer, stretching or yoga. One of the kids will get to determine what we do each week during the scheduled time. This is a great way to make sure they feel involved and a part of the decision making process. This is super important to keep their interest in the activity. As with eating, we are going to slowly introduce the exercise so we don't overdo it at the beginning and lose momentum before we even get started.
Most importantly, we write down our goals and have the kids write down their goals, too. Then we put them in places we can see them as a reminder that we have an area of life we are working on changing. We are still working on our weekly schedule, which will be posted next to the kids' chore chart. There are a few more things we need to fine tune. We let the kids give their input and make some choices, but in the end, Mom and Dad have the final say.
http://www.burrellesluce.com/freshideas/2010/01/smart-goal-setting-for-2010/ )
Quick Review of how we create our Family New Year Resolutions or Family Life Changes:
Decide on an area you want to change in your family's life.
Narrow that down into 2-5 more specific areas.
Figure out how you are going to accomplish and measure those goals.
Write them down and hang them up where your family can be reminded of the goal.
When making your New Year Resolutions this year, don't make them just so you can break them... instead, think of a life change you want to make. And if you can get your family involved, even better!!
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