2011 was a big year for our family. We moved into a new community, my son changed schools and my daughter became a toddler with a will of steel ( it will serve her well I am sure!).  Now that my son is 5 I wanted to include him more deeply in making new years resolutions. I don't want them to be superficial, I wanted the act of writing them down to be a lesson in self reflection and was pleased when it was.

Here is how I prompted the reflection and set up the activity.

The writing prompts were :

This year I will try something new -

This year I will try to stop -

This year I will try these new foods-

This year I will try not to -

This year I will try my best at -

I did the writing and he did the thinking and I was so thrilled with his responses , although the new foods question stumped him and we had to grab a book to flip through and choose some foods. I was flabbergasted at the answers to what he was going to try to stop doing { doing bad choices at school} without any suggestion from me at all. I was also loving his decision to try his best at climbing the rock wall solo!

I had him sign his name on the back .

I hope this activity sparks ideas to discuss resolutions and goal making for your family.

Oh and just to make it fair I am giving up diet coke , saying yes to things outside my family less and saying yes to my kids more.

Happy New Year