Tips for Family New Year's Resolution Success
Hopefully these will be the last resolutions you will have to make!
Keep setting and attaining small, incremental resolutions and you’ll be amazed at how far you’ve come when assessing your progress a year later. You will be able to make an everyday commitment to yourself and to your family that will resonate positively throughout your lives.
PREPARING RESOLUTIONS TOGETHER:
- Schedule a time to talk about family resolutions. Put it on the calendar at a time when the entire family can devote enough time to discuss without running in or out for soccer games, work or other activities.
- Ask everyone to come prepared. Encourage all family members to brainstorm fun resolution ideas in advance to prepare for the discussion. The youngest family members can also participate with help from an older family member.
- Hold a planning “meeting” that is meaningful and fun. Give everyone a chance to participate by sharing his or her ideas and helping “run” the meeting.
- Give everyone a chance to “present” his or her contribution.
- Teens can take notes on their laptops.
- Little ones can be in charge of making healthy snacks.
- Elect a family member to lead the agenda—not necessarily an adult.
DEVELOPING RESOLUTIONS TOGETHER:
- Make “well-rounded” resolutions. Make commitment which aims to strengthen and balance spirit, mind and body. Consider areas outside of fitness, such as improved nutrition, increased community service and additional time spent together as a family.
- Mix it up. Making a variety of resolutions offers more opportunities for success. When one resolution is starts to get tough, achieving success on another can boost confidence. Success while volunteering can make up for a last week’s fast food dinner.
- Make resolutions specific, realistic and measurable. Develop resolutions that include the whole family and consider each person’s starting point. Pick goals that are measurable and put the family on the road toward a healthier lifestyle.
- Accentuate the positive. Make more resolutions which focus on adding healthy activities rather than restricting unhealthy ones. Look for success in small increments by creating short-term goals and avoiding “all or nothing” thinking.
- Don’t “over resolve.” Consider what’s realistic given realities of your family current daily life that cannot be changed, or at least not changed overnight.
FINDING RESOLUTION SUCCESS TOGETHER:
- Track progress in a fun, interactive and visual way. Put resolutions in writing and display them on the refrigerator where they can easily be seen. Be creative: make resolution posters and charts for mapping progress.
- Celebrate with positive, healthy rewards. Honor small successes with positive, fun and healthy rewards that meet the needs of the entire family. Check in with each other regularly and celebrate achievements, big and small.
- Prepare for setbacks. A bout with the flu might get the family off track for a week, so schedule a family meeting to get restarted. Setbacks are not failure—they are times to call in the troops for reinforcement.
- Work together as a team to overcome barriers. If a family member is having trouble meeting a goal, brainstorm together to develop a new strategy. If mom can’t find time to exercise, kids can wash dishes while she takes a walk outside.