2020 Vision: Making Resolutions in the New Year
New Year’s Resolutions … yay or nay? We say “yay!”
As we enter not only a new year but a new decade, it is the perfect time to look ahead and determine what steps to take or habits to develop to improve our lives and reach our goals. There are many benefits to setting goals as you look toward a new year and a new beginning. Eating better and exercising more will make us healthier and hopefully extend our lives. Trying new things — perhaps learning a musical instrument, taking horseback riding lessons, or mastering a foreign language — makes us more interesting and well-rounded people. Giving back to our community, whether through engaging in little acts of kindness, volunteering at a food bank or hospital, or collecting money for a special nonprofit, not only makes the world a better place, but also makes us more grateful for the lives we have.
Teaching by example is certainly one of the most impactful things that we can do as parents. To that end, consider making your resolution-setting a family affair. Work with your children to set individual and family goals that are both realistic and meaningful. Here are some ideas:
- Read more: Make reading just for fun an integral part of your lives. Whether it’s reading a certain number of books per month or for the year, or reading a certain number of minutes each day, prioritizing time to read can be beneficial for everyone in the family. It’s also nice when possible to actually have family reading time, where everyone stops whatever they’re doing and gathers together in one room to read quietly.
- Improve grades: Is your child struggling in school in general? Or perhaps in one specific class or subject area? Encourage him or her to find ways to bring that grade up. Steps may include seeking extra assistance from the teacher or setting aside a certain amount of time each day to work on the subject by doing things like re-reading material, doing extra problems or worksheets, or working in a study group with other students. You may also explore the idea of hiring a private tutor to help your child work through his or her struggles. (Synergy Academics provides excellent one-on-one tutoring for all students K-12 in dozens of different subjects.) Also making sure your students have the tools they need for academic success is important, including a quiet organized place to study.
- Try something new: It’s easy to get in a rut, especially when we are trying to balance so many different things, such as school, work, extracurricular activities, family time, and so on. Even with all the craziness, however, our lives can be so much richer when we try new things. Something new might be embarking on a new activity or hobby such as cooking Asian cuisine or taking piano lessons. It may be trying something new on a one-time basis such as visiting a museum or skydiving. Whatever it is, encourage each member of your family to commit to trying or doing something new during the year, and then help them figure out how to make it a reality.
- Improve your time management: Staying organized and on top of all activities and responsibilities feels like a never ending juggling act. Work as a family to implement habits that allow for better time management. Some tools might include using a family calendar that’s posted prominently so everyone knows what’s happening, setting aside a certain time each day for doing homework (kids) and paperwork (you), and using simple to do lists to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
- Focus on health: Losing weight and increasing exercise may be the most cliche of New Year’s resolutions, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t important and valuable goals — not just for you but for your kids as well. It can be fun to get healthy as a family so think about doing things such as planning and cooking healthy meals together, taking family hikes, planting a vegetable garden, trying new recipes, and signing up for a 5K or some other type of race.
- Give back to the community: In the spirit of gratitude and charity, it is so important to instill in our children the value of community service and giving back. Set goals for engaging in charitable work regularly, whether it’s a certain number of hours for the year or a certain number of charitable activities for each month. Just a few examples include: working at a local food bank, collecting blankets and donations for an animal shelter, volunteering at a Special Olympics event, or collecting and delivering toys and books to a pediatric hospital. There are literally thousands of different charitable and nonprofit events and organizations looking for volunteers. Talk to your children and let them suggest the types of organizations they would like to support.
Finally, while many people’s New Year’s resolutions tend to be forgotten or discarded by sometime in mid to late February, don’t let your family be a part of that statistic! When you are setting the goals as a family, write them down. Make sure everyone is on board and committed to achieving the goals. Be sure to schedule regular family “check ins” (maybe at the beginning of each month) so that you can track your progress, discuss what’s working and what’s not, and adjust as necessary. Make it fun! Don’t overcommit yourselves, but set targets that will be meaningful and help enrich and improve your lives, both as individuals and as a family.
Most of all, have a happy, healthy and wonderful New Year from all of us at Synergy Academics!
