We all are perfectly capable of making brand new, New-Year Resolutions and equally efficient in breaking them consistently. Well, parenting is tough and its ok not to be able to achieve everything in that one year. But it does leave us all incomplete at the end of the year. Well, here’s a new idea, for a new year parenting resolution in 2023.
Try to focus on one key area in parenting this year. Maybe you always felt guilty of not spending enough time with your child and would like to focus on it. But don’t be all wishy-washy or unrealistic about how much time to spend. So, your goal is not to spend more time with your child, but to take her out once a month to a place of interest – like a science museum, or the zoo. Kids are more likely to appreciate this once a month treat of quality time with you than the constant nagging and guilt.
A focus area need not be always from the point of giving. It can also be an area of fear. We are all first-time parents forever. Even if your first born is 40 years old, you are the parent of a 40-year-old for the first time and it has its own challenges. So, what is it that you’re worried about? Kid entering teenage? Worried about college funding? Unsure about your kid’s abilities? Well, write your fear down – only 1 though and try to delve into it. What worries you? What could solve or mitigate that worry? Money? Relationships? Work on solutions. You may or may not succeed in solving it. But the fact that you took time out and looked into it will give you strength enough to be prepared mentally.
Once you are able to pinpoint the focus area for 2023, work on it. Write down what you know, research and read up. Speak to others or experts to be aware. Figure out what you need to deal with it. Work around your calendar to fit it in. Jot down the various areas of progress you made with your parenting focus area. And at the end of the year, you’d be amazed at how good you have been at managing your focus area. Well, you must know that making a long list of resolutions can be deterring. But when you have just one area of parenting to focus on and to improve upon (drop the others, believe me), the progress is immense, and not just in that area, but all else as well! Here’s an example.
Last year I decided to cook with my child. The aim was to make him independent enough to feed himself with healthy food when I was away or busy. Well, we spent time together chatting while cooking, he learnt to handle himself in a kitchen (chopping, grating, flipping pancakes), we walked (a bit of regular outdoors for me) to the grocery store to get fresh produce, he learnt to clean up after cooking and eating, we realized that freshly cooked food is tastier than ‘heat-and-eat’, he learnt that things cost money and good produce comes at a price, we figured out that cooking is a lot of hard work, and the kitchen is the heart of our home!