Setting Realistic Christian New Year’s Resolutions as a Family
Use these 5 tips to set realistic Christian New Years’ resolutions with your family this year that you will actually keep!
New Year, New Chaos.
We’ve all been there. We get through the craziness of the Christmas season (which is no easy feat with children!). Then we’re bombarded with the New Years posts telling us to make the next year “your best year yet.” All you have to do is follow these easy steps. Or sign up for this gym membership. Or join that activity…the list goes on and on. You want to set Christian New Year’s resolutions for your family that you can actually stick to, but you don’t know where to start.
Of course these all sound like great ideas in December. So you and your family decide to jump in headfirst only to realize by April, you have already forgotten your goals. Whether it was to go to the gym, read a book, drink water, eat fruits and vegetables, the goals are long forgotten.
Anyone else tired of the same chaos yet?
Why set Christian New Year’s resolutions for your family?
As Christians, our number one priority is to love and serve God. And as Christian parents, it is our number 2 priority to teach our children to do the same. All of these other resolutions aren’t bad. And we should try our best to strive for good mental, physical, and emotional health. However, our New Years’ resolutions should always be filtered through a few questions to make sure we are keeping our priorities in order.
- Does this resolution glorify God?
- Does this resolution bring my family closer to God?
- Does this resolution bring others (outside of my family) closer to God?
Ask these three questions to ensure that your goals are in line with your priorities as a follow of Jesus.
Now I know what you’re thinking. Does this mean that every resolution that answers “yes” to these questions is realistic for your family? No.
Does this mean that every resolution that answers “yes” to these questions is something you HAVE to accomplish this year? Again, no.
5 tips to Set Realistic New Year’s Resolutions.
So how do you and your family decide which goals to pursue? Or decide which goals to lay aside for another time?
Here are a few tips:
- Know your capacity
- Be flexible
- Set short term goals
- Visual reminders
- Don’t stress
Know your capacity
Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven”. There are many seasons in parenting, from pregnancy to newborns, toddlers to tweens, teens to young adults, and everything in between. Not every year is going to look like the last. It is SO important to be realistic about your capacity from one season to the next.
If you are raising 2 under 2, it may not be realistic to complete a 30-minute family Bible study before bed. On the other hand, if all of your kids are able to read independently and sit still for an extended period of time, that could be a very realistic Christian New Year’s resolution for your family.
When sitting down to decide on the goals for your family, evaluate your family’s needs and the current demands you have as a parent. If you would like to set a goal to eat home-cooked family dinners every evening but you or your spouse work late hours, you have sports or other commitments, or you travel frequently, then that may not be within your capacity during this season, and that is okay! There is no shame in recognizing your family’s current capacity and setting goals accordingly.
Be flexible
So what if you and your family have set goals or Christian New Years’ resolutions that you thought were within your capacity, but by the second week of February, everyone is burned out, overwhelmed, and wants to quit?
Be Flexible!
I’ll admit, this one is hard for my type-A personality to accept, but sometimes things just haven’t turned out the way I thought they would and I’ve had to adjust. If your evening Bible studies start out strong during the winter but as the days get warmer and longer, you find your family spending more time outdoors late into the evening and you run out of time to spend 30 uninterrupted minutes together in the evenings before bed, then adjust! Bring out your Bible and read a passage to discuss during dinner, schedule morning Bible study times during the summer months, or whatever works for your family!
If you have older children who play a part in the goal-setting for the family, do regular check-ins with them to see how they think things are going. You may think that all of your children are being consistent with their personal quiet times, but in reality your daughter may be struggling to keep up with the expectation. It is important that every member of the family feels successful so your goals can actually be accomplished.
Set short term goals
As a school-based occupational therapist, I am always writing yearly goals for my students. One of the ways to make sure that they are reaching their goals every year is by setting short-term goals for them to meet while working on meeting their long-term goals. I’ve also used this strategy with my own children in various ways to help them learn a new skill or instill a new habit.
Setting a New Years’ resolution for an entire year can be overwhelming and unrealistic. So break it down into more manageable short-term “resolutions” that your family will actually be able to accomplish. For example, if your family has a goal to try 20 new healthy foods this year, break it up and set a goal to try 5 new healthy foods every quarter, or 3 months. At the end of the year (or 4 quarters), your family will have accomplished your long-term goal of trying 20 new foods.
Another way to break down a New Years’ resolution into more realistic goals is by using the stair-step or benchmark method, meaning that each short-term goal builds on the last. So if your family has a resolution to become better readers this year, start small and slowly build your skills. That could look like this:
- By the end of January, Johnny will read a book with at least 3 chapters.
- By the end of March, Johnny will read a book with at least 5 chapters.
- By the end of June, Johnny will read a book with at least 7 chapters.
Okay, you get the picture. No matter what your resolution is, there are always ways to break it down into realistic goals that you can meet throughout the year.
Visual reminders
Another strategy I used with my OT students is giving them visual reminders to help them meet their goal. When creating a new habit or learning a new skill, kids (and adults, too!) need to be reminded OFTEN in order for it to stick long-term.
So if your family is trying to memorize more Scripture this year, look around your house and find some places where you can put that verse for everyone to see. This could be a bathroom mirror or even inside kitchen cabinets. This doesn’t have to be fancy, just whatever works for your family.
Don’t stress
Last but not least, don’t stress! It is not realistic to set Christian New Years’ resolutions with the expectation that everything will be perfect. We all have long days, illnesses, or countless other situations that may cause us to get off-track of our goals. If you or your family misses a day, week, or even a month, just re-focus, adjust, and try again. As long as our priorities are in line, we can be sure that there is grace for our mistakes. Remember, His mercies are new every morning.
Let’s put this in action today!
Talk is cheap. Let’s put some action behind our words. Ready, set, GO!
If you’re wanting to be more organized, more intentional, eat healthier, give more, start a family devotional, whatever your goals are for the new year, get started today.
I recommend writing your goals down and posting them somewhere visible to the whole family. I’ve included a simple and free New Years’ Resolution chart for your whole family.
You can download that chart here!
I hope these tips have encouraged and motivated you to start writing your Christian New Year’s resolutions for your whole family.
Let me know if you found these tips helpful for you and your family!
Get my free Family New Year’s Resolution chart here
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