By Colleen Brunetti, M.Ed., C.H.C
Are you setting a New Year’s Resolution? How about trying one with your child? In recent posts, we talked about Setting Goals – Creating Success and Creating Good Habits. The New Year is upon us, so it’s a natural time to put these ideas into motion!
We often think of adults making New Year’s Resolutions, and not so much young children, but working on goals as a family is a great way to model to and guide your children on how to set goals and make positive life changes.
Take stock of your family dynamics. Where would you like to make some positive changes together? Is it eating more dinners together? Keeping a tidier home? Implementing healthier eating habits? Going on a family outing, such as a hike or to the library, more regularly? Something else?
Stay really positive as you make this decision, and involve the kids too. Talk together about what your family does that you just love. And also talk about changes and new things you’d like to try. Your children might have a few suggestions of their own as well!
Besides a family-focused resolution, you might want to make one yourself so you can model building good personal habits for your child as well. One thing you will want to be mindful of is how these resolutions are presented. Make sure they are phrased in such a way as to put a positive healthy spin on the goal.
For instance, you may want to loose weight. While this can be a great goal, be mindful of how you talk about that intent. Try to use words that convey a healthy body image, such as, “I want my body to be a healthy size so I can do everything I love!”, instead of, “I want to loose weight because I feel fat (hate my thighs, nothing fits, etc.)”. Children are inundated by media with how they “should” look and feel… seeing mom and dad make changes with something like health as the primary goal is a powerful message!
For more tips on making goals that stick, check out this list HERE.
Talk to us in the comments! What sort of goals are you thinking about setting for your family and yourself in 2014? We’d love to hear from you!