We hope you have had a great start to the new year! New year resolutions and goals are a good thing but can be very overwhelming. We want you to be successful especially when it comes to your kids. If you want to be a better parent but don’t know where to start, check out these simple goals to jumpstart your new year.

Be available 

The one thing we can never get back, especially as parents, is time. How can we be more available emotionally and physically to our kids? We can put our phones down. It’s so easy to start scrolling on our phones instead of picking up a book to read with our kids. If this is a struggle for you, set a time each day that you can be on your phone and stick to the time limit. Then when your time is up, put your phone down in a different room and play and talk with your kids.  This is a challenge that all of us face but it is up to us to make the choice to put our phones aside and pour into our kids. 

Routine and Structure

Research shows kids thrive on routine and structure. So how can we add this into our schedules? We can start by creating a morning routine. This is your basic morning routine... wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast and brush teeth. You probably already do this. If you stay at home with your kids, you can also create a morning and afternoon routine. This can look like wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, read books, free play, learning activity, free play, lunch, nap/rest time, snack, free play or structured activity. Depending on your own schedule, you can create your routine to what works best for your family. It’s also important to have an evening/bedtime routine. This helps kids know what is coming next and alleviates some anxiety.

Chores 

Including chores in your kid’s routines, promotes self-confidence and builds responsibility. Starting at a young age, kids thrive in helping others. Teach them to do this by assigning one or two chores to each child. For toddlers it might be that they pick up their toys and help pick out their outfits for the day. You will have to practice this every day with a lot of patience:) Older kids can help set the table, clear the table, vacuum, take trash out, sweep outside, clean glass windows and doors, and pick up their rooms. You can create a daily or weekly chore chart or schedule that helps everyone stay on track. Something I tell our kids is that we have a large family, and everyone has to help out so that our day and evening run smooth. Some of my older kids have had the same chores for five plus years and they do them every day mostly without being asked. This also helps prepare them for adulthood. 

Don’t stress about creating goals for your family. It can be overwhelming trying to make a lot of changes. We would encourage you to make one change a week instead of all at once. Whether it’s creating a new routine or adding chores, taking it slow will give you time to focus on the simple change and practice it every day!