A Toddler’s New Year’s Resolutions

One of my favorite times of year is in the quiet and peace after the hustle and bustle of the holidays. For me, those first few days of the year are filled with optimism, hope and excitement for the year ahead.

It’s when I get my paper planner organized for the year ahead and write out my New Year’s Resolutions. This year, I wanted to start a new family tradition: writing New Year’s Resolutions with my kids.

At first I thought my two and a half year old would be too young. I decided to give it a try anyway after reading this article, with some great ideas for New Year Resolutions targeted to different age groups.

My son and I finally had some quiet alone-time while the baby was napping, so we sat down together and got out some paper and his special markers that he got for Christmas. I started writing my own and he immediately wanted to do his own.

I made some suggestions, and he told me which ones he liked and where he wanted them to go on the paper. Then he got to color on it.

Here’s what we came up with:

• Sleep in my big boy bed
• Eat more vegetables
• Share my toys with my baby brother
• Be nice to mommy and daddy
• Be nice to kids that look sad
• Brush my teeth in the morning and night

I also wrote down some of my own mommy-resolutions:

• Embrace the chaos of young children (and remember this time is temporary and I will miss it later)
• Stay calm when my toddler drives me crazy
• Have more date nights with my husband, and weekly marriage meetings
• See more friends
• Take time for some self-care and alone time
• Enjoy my work

We then taped them to our fridge — he was excited, happily talking about them and showing them to Daddy.

The next morning, he ripped them off the fridge in typical toddler fashion (and we then practiced the skill of taping things back together). But hey, he’s only 2.

We’ll try again next year!