Family New Year’s Resolutions

The new year is a time of excitement, hope and setting goals for the future. Many people are in the habit of creating personal New Year’s resolutions and they forget that their family can set goals for the new year as well. Any family, no matter how big or small, can set New Year’s resolutions and benefit from them. However, Wendy Schuman, writer for Parents Magazine, states that children between the ages of 7 to 12 will benefit most from creating both family and personal New Year’s resolutions.

When deciding on resolutions for either you or your family, it is important to remember to keep the goal attainable and age-appropriate. This means that if it is your personal goal is to lose weight, then an attainable resolution would be to “train for a 10K” instead of “lose 50 pounds.” If the goal is not attainable, then you will become frustrated and stop working toward fulfilling the resolution.

The following are some examples of attainable and healthy family New Year’s resolutions:

• Drink more water: Start small by agreeing that everyone will increase their normal water consumption by one cup a day. Do this for one month and then advance by another cup a day. Do this until everyone is drinking about eight cups of water each day.
• Try one new fruit or vegetable a month: Every month, incorporate a new fruit or vegetable into at least one meal. If you have picky eaters, try taking them to the grocery store to help pick out the new produce and then have them help you prepare it for the meal. Children are more likely to eat food that they have chosen and helped to cook.
• Reduce the family intake of soda and junk food: Make sure that this is approached in an attainable way. Stopping consumption of sugar cold-turkey is very difficult and usually leads to binging. Start by cutting out one can of soda from your diet a day, and continue until you are no longer drinking soda except on special occasions. The same goes for junk food; Slowly cut it out by reducing your daily intake one item at a time. It is important to remember that you are the parent; you are in charge of what your family eats, and kids can’t eat what’s not there.
• Try to eat as many family dinners together as possible, without interruptions: Many families are very busy and it can be difficult to find the time to sit down and eat together. It may be helpful to pick one day a week that works for your family, such as Sunday night. Choose the day as a family and set the expectations for the meal, such as “we will eat our meal together around the table, without the TV on, or our cell phones out.”
• Find more active things to do together as a family: This could be as simple as playing catch in the park or going on a bike ride, or more elaborate, like signing up for a race or joining a family bowling league. Try to do more activities together weekly, but if this is too hard, start small and aim for at least once a month.
• Reduce screen time: Technology is an integral part of our daily lives, but it is important to use screens in moderation. If you don’t already do so, consider limiting the time that your child spends in front of a screen for pleasure (i.e. not doing school work) and replace it with family activities such as cooking, reading and playing games together.