New Year’s Resolutions. So easy to make. So easy to forget about by January 5th. Why? Because as adults, we’re accepting of the New Year’s resolutions joke – nobody expects you to actually keep them.

Wouldn’t it be great if somewhere along the line we were taught to actually do just that? If you have kids, you have the opportunity to teach them not only how to make resolutions, but how to keep them, too.

Limit the Number of Resolutions

A long list of resolutions is simply too overwhelming. That’s probably one of the reasons most adults don’t keep their resolutions. How many habits would you have to change to loose weight, get organized, remember to phone your mother once a week, get the living room painted, and finally reconcile your checkbook all within the few days of a new year?

Young children should focus on one thing they want to improve and older children should limit it to two or three. Talk with your children about what is most important and focus on those. Then maybe take your own advice and set few for yourself, too.

Be Specific

I came across a website that had had ten suggestions for kids’ resolutions. A couple of suggestions were “I will be kind to all kids” and “I will do my best in school.” Those are broad resolutions that seem to be setting children up for failure because you can never tell if you’ve actually achieved them. Children will give up sooner rather than later if there is no actual measure of achievement.

If you’re helping your children set resolutions, talk about making them specific. If a child wants to do better in school, have him pick a specific subject. Set a goal. “I will do better in school by raising my grade in science from a C to a B” or “I will study two nights before every test instead of just the night before.”

Write Those Resolutions Down

Writing things down makes them more real. Write down the resolutions in either a private journal if your child wants it to be private or on a piece of paper that is posted someplace visible if your child doesn’t mind everyone seeing. Older children could possibly begin a blog to track their resolution journey. Blogs do not have to be viewable by the public.

Follow Up With Their Resolutions

Ask your children how their resolutions are coming along. Suggest ways that they can stick to their resolutions. If they mess up, encourage them to try again. Let them know that January 1st is not the only day for resolutions. They can start them, or re-start them, whenever they want.

Be an Example For Your Kids

Do you have your own resolutions? Share one of them with your children. Then do your best to follow through with it. Compare resolution notes with your children from time to time. Encourage each other.

Who knows? By helping your children learn to make and keep New Year’s resolutions, you may just break the cycle and start keeping your own!

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