New Year's Resolutions

Justin got a call-in to work the night of New Year's Eve so we sat down to do our resolutions yesterday evening. The guys like to make an occasion of it so we write by candlelight with glasses of fizzy drink and a bowl of sweets. We keep all our resolutions in a box so the first thing we did was take turns to read out last years lists and see how many of last years resolutions we had each been able to achieve. Of the things on our lists there were some things we had managed, the children more than Justin and I, but a lot we hadn't. Maybe we had been a bit over optimistic last year but there were still more than a couple of things we should have managed which got lost in the busyness of our day to day lives. This year therefore we decided that we would try two things; One, we would take out our box of resolutions at a few different points during the year to remind ourselves of what we are trying to achieve. Secondly, by sharing our resolutions with each other we will try to support one another and by 'roping-up' will also be more likely to stick to our efforts.
New Year is a good opportunity to have a fresh start and begin the year with a clean slate. We also think it important that the children reflect on the year past and then set their own goals for the year ahead. We try as much as possible to help teach them to be self directed instead of us imposing our will on them so that they will be self reliant and able to be directed by their own internal compass. For Justin and I too, it helps us be more mindful and prioritise the important things.