Parenting Tips » Top New Year Resolution Ideas For Parents 2017

Top New Year Resolution Ideas For Parents 2017

The New Year 2017 is a time for a new beginning and new resolutions. Resolutions, as they say, are made to be kept, not to be broken. As parents, we are on a continuous learning curve, as we try to negotiate the treacherous terrain of parent-child relationships in the twenty first century. Many of us may wish to begin the New Year anew, making small or big changes in our parental lives. Below given is a comprehensive list of New Year resolution ideas for parents.

1. Main resolution: I shall be a mindful parent in 2017.
Sub-resolutions:
a. My mind will be fully on the task at hand.
b. When I play with my child, my mind will be fully occupied in the play and my child.
c. I will not be preoccupied with future plans or past regrets.

2. Main resolution: I shall do more cooking at home, and eat out only once in two weeks.
Sub-resolutions:
a. I will not feed store-bought food to my children.
b. Family eating out will be only once in two weeks, and on special occasions like birthdays.
c. I will give water to my kids, instead of soft drinks.
d. I shall experiment with one healthy food recipe per week.

3. Main resolution: I shall restrict the use of mobile phone and other electronic gadgets at home.
Sub-resolutions:
a. I shall use the mobile phone and the laptop/IPad for a maximum of one hour at home.
b. I shall fix the time for the whole family to be on their mobile phone and IPad. After this particular time, these gadgets will be kept away.
c. Whatever temper tantrums are thrown by my children, to use gadgets on other times, I will not budge from this new rule.

4. Main resolution: I shall read one book per month.
Sub-resolutions:
a. I will take membership in the local library.
b. I shall decide which books I would like to read: motivational/fiction/non-fiction etc.
c. I will borrow a book from the library every first Saturday of the month and return it by the end of the month.
d. I shall read for half an hour before going to sleep.

5. Main resolution: I shall inculcate the reading habit in my children and my spouse.
Sub-resolutions:
a. I shall take a membership for each member of the family at the library.
b. Every Saturday afternoon, our whole family will go to the library to borrow books.
c. Every day, there will be a DEAR time at home. (DEAR time means Drop Everything And Read). This means that at the time allocated for reading, the members of the family will stop doing whatever they are doing, and read a book/newspaper/magazine.

6. Main resolution: We shall have dinner together, with all the family members.
Sub-resolutions:
a. Both my wife/husband and I will be home for dinner every day, no matter how busy we are in the office.
b. During dinner, we will crack jokes, tell what happened in our workplaces, listen to each other, and laugh a lot.
c. We will eat dinner slowly.

7. Main resolution: All the members of the family, including the father, will do house chores.
Sub-resolutions:
a. I will find out from each family member which family chores he/she is most inclined to do and at what time.
b. Each day at dinner, there will be reflection time on whether everyone did their chores for the day.
c. There will not be any rewards given for the chores. Members do chores as a matter of responsibility.