Making New Years' Resolutions with Your Child

New Year’s resolutions are a yearly trend- that most people take part in to set goals to accomplish throughout the year. Many adults make resolutions to make better life choices or to start the year differently, but resolutions can greatly benefit children as well. The start of a new year can be a great time for parents to introduce goal-setting with their children.

The new year always starts off with many options for new goals, for both adults and children. Narrowing down, or prioritizing your goals, can make the list feel manageable. Learning how to set realistic goals at an early age is important to develop this life skill. Here are some tips on the best ways to approach doing so, with children:

Make specific goals. Resolutions should be realistic and achievable, something that can be done within a certain amount of time. Instead of making generalized goals, such as “I will eat better,” set a targeted goal to include vegetables with every dinner for your child.

Be a role model. Set an example for your child. If you want to help them set goals for the new year that are new to them, show them how you are also doing so they know it is something adults do too.

Celebrate milestones. If you or your child has a big goal, try reaching small progress points and celebrating once they are achieved and you reach closer to the bigger goal. Celebrations can be simple or huge depending on the type of goal you are working towards.

Start small and reflect. Starting off small is especially important for first-time goal-setters and young children. As your child get older, you can both set larger goals together, but they’ll benefit from creating small goals that lead toward the bigger mission. Have children start thinking about what they can do this year that they couldn’t do last. For example, maybe last year they couldn’t read a book, but with skill improvement, that is now possible. Their goal may be to read a new book each month.

Offer guidance. Go through the process of setting goals together, but don’t dictate what goals they must accomplish. As they get older, your child can be part of the conversation to verbalize what they want to achieve. As a parent you should offer suggestions, but ultimately let them decide. Having them control the decision will help them get excited and make them want to complete their goal.

Talk about progress. If a child falls behind, talk about it. What do you think you can do better next time? How do you think you can prepare differently? Share about times when you may have fallen short of a goal and talk about how you reflected and moved forward. Most importantly, acknowledge the child’s effort and how proud you are that they did their best.

Set family goals. Setting family goals can help bring families together. Families could choose to make a similar resolution together to help each other make progress. Some examples could include “unplugging” for certain evenings or whole days, taking time to read together or individually, going on a family walk, or even making a commitment to clean the kitchen together after dinner. Resolutions involving more family time can help strengthen a family’s bond and committing more time to family can result in a more healthy environment.

Resolutions and goals are a great tool to teach responsibilities and being able to follow-through. As children grow and develop, their goals and responsibilities will naturally increase. Eventually, these actions become habits and lead to their success in becoming responsible and successful adults.

For preschool-aged children, resolutions that are recommended are ones that focus on cleaning up toys, brushing teeth and washing hands, and being kind to others. However, parents who consider these behaviors part of their regular expectations may want to provide resolutions that focus on higher goals.