How to make New Year's resolutions last with your kids
Photo canva.com, Pexels, Andrea Piacquadio
Christian Life
Christmas and the New Year come with many traditions. One of them is writing resolutions. Resolutions are rooted in the idea of starting the year with a clean slate and setting goals for personal growth. They are not just a desire to become better but also an analysis of our life journey and the way we want to go next.
It is a great time to talk to kids about their lives and aspirations. Adults can guide and parent their kids' lives. However, we can invite our children to set their own aspirations for the next year and create common family goals, such as having a vacation in a specific place.
In my church club, where we celebrated Christmas together, we decided to dedicate the next Children's Club meeting to writing a resolution for the next year. We explained to the kids that whenever they play football or basketball, they need a football gate or a ring so the players can aim better in their games. In the same way, we all need "gates" or a "ring" when we think and pray for the next year.
Keeping these in mind, we challenged our kids to set up two personal goals, one for a change of character and the other for their studies. For example, the kids can choose to work more on their patience, and during the next year, we can help them remember their goals. A good time to remind them can be when the kids start misbehaving in a huge line at the supermarket. A teenager can be shown that patience means not getting everything right now but saving money for a new phone.
During the next year, we often revisit our resolutions so that kids remember them and so that we can create a friendly, encouraging space for living out those goals. The key principle is for the kids to choose their own aspirations so that they own them and become self-motivated.
Regarding the "studies" goal, let your child decide what needs more attention. Many kids don't like school, but they can choose to work on their hobbies or improve their skills in sports, music, art, etc. We know that New Year's resolutions are not magic spells that make our desires come true. However, they are a great start to pursuing personal development in a structured way.
Make sure that goals are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). Nobody can learn to play the piano in a year (if you are not a genius). However, your child can set the goal of learning one musical piece for next Christmas. It would be great if the result was appreciated and celebrated by family and friends. It may be harder to analyse character changes, but a family can recall a specific situation when the child showed patience or acted toward that goal.
"A goal properly set is halfway reached." (Zig Ziglar).
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