What’s on your list of New Year’s resolutions for 2017? To join a gym or exercise class? To eat more healthily? These are all amazing resolutions and if stuck too, but as we all know, making a New Year’s resolution and sticking to one are two different things entirely.
Instead of the usual resolutions, why not make resolutions that will have a positive impact on your family life? Setting goals that will be meaningful and impactful to your family unit can have a profound effect on family relationships, organization and team work for not just 2017, but for the years ahead.
Below are three great resolutions that we think are excellent and can make a huge difference to your family dynamics, your children’s behavior and your relationships. We think that with these three, simple and realistic resolutions you can see an almost immediate impact within the family home, and because of this “instant success” you may be more likely to stick to them for the rest of the year, and into 2018 (and beyond!).
Resolution #1 – Commit to spending 1-on-1 time
If you only make on resolution for 2017, make sure it’s this one! With the every day hectic schedule, finding time to sit down with your family (without any distractions) each day can be a thankless task.
Spending just 10 minutes per day of uninterrupted, one-on-one time with each of your children builds emotional connections, reduces negative behaviors, and makes children more cooperative throughout the day.
Resolution #2 – Make your routines more efficient
By revisiting your morning, after school and bedtime routines and identifying common problems, such as your children forgetting to take their packed lunches to school, forgetting their gym gear or refusing to brush their teeth for bed, you can resolve them as a family unit.
This could be done by creating a checklist, and reward your children with stars when they ‘check off’ something on the list.
Alternatively, you can use the ‘When Then’ method, by placing a desirable activity or reward after a task(s) has been completed. For example, “When you have completed your homework and got your school bag ready for tomorrow, ready by the front door, then you can play on the Xbox”.
Post the new routines in strategic places, or make the checklist visible in a high traffic room, such as the kitchen, so your kids won’t forget, and importantly you won’t have to remind them.
Resolution #3 – Housework = Teamwork
Resolve that this year will be the year you stop doing all the heavy lifting with the housework!
Each of your children should be required to shoulder some age-appropriate, meaningful responsibilities and chores that contribute to the family’s daily life and the running of the household.
Start by holding a family meeting to make a list of all the jobs that must be done weekly and decide how to divide the workload.
Not only will you get some much-needed help, you’ll also teach a valuable lesson: the family is a “team” and without everyone’s participation, the team can’t function successfully.
