New Year, new start, new opportunities; give yourself space to grow…
The month January begins with the thought to make a new, fresh start. Many of us have the wish to improve their lifestyle or even change it completely. Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes it is so difficult to stick to the new routine. The set goals are often too ambitious and success far away. It is quite normal that you stumble halfway down the road and end up in your old pattern again. That is a pity because your intentions are good, but your feeling of being successful has not been reached. Would it not be better if you take smaller steps and have more space? Give yourself that space! Not only is there more space to breathe and reach success; at the same time you show your children that, even by using small steps, goals can still be reached.
In my practice, children tell me that they also want to make New Year’s resolutions. They copy it from their parents, so it is good to be aware that you are an example in your child’s life.
Now, what could be nice resolutions for children? It can vary from eating more vegetables, tidying up their room on a weekly base, spending more time doing homework and less gaming. Or maybe, writing about a positive and nice moment that occurred that week in a small notebook.
Maybe it is nice to choose a resolution together with your child and then try to stick to it together. Just something small, something simple, something that works long-term. I think the word ‘together’ can play a nice part here. Maybe you would like your child to eat more fruit; why not share an apple and enjoy your moment together? Maybe your child wants to improve homework time and you can support that by taking away the distractors and join in being there, at the same table (maybe with that shared apple). Maybe you want your child to spend less time on the phone and you might want that for yourself, too. Use that time as a moment together; a bit of chatting together, cooking together, playing a board game together. Or maybe you want to join some gaming with your teenager for half an hour a week and show you are also interested in their world.
All those small, shared moments, are adding up and for sure at the end of the year there will be so many of those moments. Small moments on a regular base do mean so much more than this big holiday or that one day at an amusement park. Of course also great fun, but the memories of children can be found in our daily moments where mom and dad were there for you.
In short; New Year’s resolutions for 2019? Fun! Together with your child? Even more fun! What is there in it for you? Being together and getting to know each other better every single day, because your child needs you in his or her life and the developmental years, each day and year for different reasons.
