5 Top Tips to help your child with New Year’s Resolution

Time sure did fly by this year! We have reached the end of the school year, and now is the time for students rejuvenate, have fun in the sun, and prepare for the new year! As adults, it’s a lot easier to think ahead about all the things we want to achieve in the new year. But for children, it can be difficult to think about all the things they want to do in the new year. We here at Markitup have crafted some simple steps for all parents to follow when helping their kids shoot for the stars with their new years resolutions! 😁

Tip #1: Keep it simple!

We’ve all been there; a new year’s resolution of waking up at 4:30am to go to the gym seems like a great idea in the beginning, but is really hard to stick to! Students often feel the same way when they set a goal to achieve 100% in every subject and come home with a 75%. We recommend that you keep your new years resolutions simple and easy to follow. Help your child think of things they can reasonably do in the new year that will give them a sense of fulfillment. Try small things, like a half hour of reading every day, or learning one new word a week to start things off!

Tip #2: Make sure there’s some variety!

While academia is important, its also great to ensure there is some variety in your childs life! Often times, mixing in some ‘fun’ resolutions with some ‘school’ resolutions can help your child stick to them. Encouraging your child to learn a new skill, or try a new sport can be a great way to expand their knowledge without them getting bored! For example, if your child loves video games, prompt them to try an interactive game that gets them up and moving. Or, for the child who loves to dance, get them to try a new style! These little changes in their extracurricular routine can give students a new sense of motivation during school time, and helps them keep up with their other resolutions.

Tip #3: Keep on reminding them!

Ultimately, we all forget our resolutions sometimes. It can be really easy to spend our time doing other things halfway through the year. So as parents, its crucial that students are persuaded to stick with their resolutions. This can be through the balancing of resolutions we suggested above; if a student wants to learn how to play soccer, then their daily reading can be about famous soccer players! Coming up with new and exciting ways to achieve their resolutions will keep them motivated to succeed.

Usually what I would like to do is have my new year’s resolution down on a paper and stick it to the wall. It is one of the easiest tactic in the book!

Tip #4: Make it clear

“Be concrete, specific, and manageable,” Dr. Goodman says. “As with adults, vague but good-sounding resolutions don’t make for change. For example, ‘I will behave better’ is too general and will be out the window fast.” Encourage goals that are within their reach, so they don’t get discouraged.

Tip #5: Categorise your goals

Some people when they are doing new year’s resolution they like to look at it holistically. Areas I would recommend focusing on are:

• Academic goals: Such as improving my maths or english results by… making sure I complete the chapter revision after every topic regardless of whether my teacher says it is for homework or not. 
• Health goals: I am going to eat one piece of fruit a day and limit my soft drink to once per fortnight. 
• Friend goals: I am going to try and make 5 new friends this year and get to know them.
• House goals: I want to help out around the house by cleaning the dishes twice a week. 

These are just some ideas on some goals and HOW to write these goals. I recommend providing these categories to your child and then asking them to fill it out themselves. As they are doing that, improve on it by clarifying it and making it more specific. 

Doing yearly resolutions is a fantastic way to teach our children that life is short and we should try to reflect on our achievements each year to make them a better person. 

At the end of the day, every child is different. Some may find it really easy to motivate themselves to achieve what they want, and others need a little push. Its all about keeping resolutions simple, ensuring some variety, and helping them remember why they made them in the first place! If all else fails, don’t worry, there’s always next year!