5 Habits to Start with your Family This Year

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Happy New Year!

I hope you are as excited to see what this new year is going to bring as we are here at Corpus Christi Moms Blog!

As I put away the decorations and look at my own goals for this next year, I started thinking about the goals I wanted to set for our family. My kids are still very young so I had never really considered that they needed goal setting too.

Don’t panic, this is not a big “Resolutions” blog or intense goal setting – {although I feel those things are good to do} – This is simply a place to start.

If you feel lost when it comes to setting and keeping goals :: welcome to the club!

I am the WORST about starting something and then gradually slacking off until I have forgotten the goal altogether. Oops.

So, when it comes to something I want to get my whole family on board with, I know I have to start small and build from there. 

This year I am going to implement

5 Simple Habits.

  1. Spend time outside almost every day. This may be easy for some of you. For me…well, for starters, I am a homebody. Then, later in the year when the temperature is starting to climb, it gets a lot harder for me to muster the strength to sweat outside with the kids! But, this year I am determined to make a change! We moved into a new neighborhood with the intent of having the kids play outside more, so that is just what we are going to do. You may see me sitting in a kiddie pool in the front yard to survive, but we will be doing it outside. Bring your sunscreen and come join us! 🙂
  2. Have a family game night once a week. I have always loved board games, and we have a ton in our spare closet. Last summer I started playing games with my son to help him practice letters and numbers. He loved it! Now it is something that he will ask for: “Can we please have a family game night?” Well, I can’t refuse that! So, once a week, when dad is off work, we will disconnect, turn off the TV, turn on some fun music and play games! Some of our favorites are UNO Attack, Guess Who, Scrabble Jr., and Monopoly Jr.
  3. Keep a family gratitude jar. This one I had to think about. It is an idea I have had for the last couple years, but I didn’t know how I would execute it. My plan is to keep a large jar, and every Sunday we will each write down one thing that happened over the week that we are grateful for or our favorite memory from the week. Then next year on New Year’s Eve – no matter what kind of year we have had – we will have a jar full of gratitude!
  4. Read,read, and read some more. I have been so focused on making sure my kids are reading, I have not read any books that I personally enjoyed in months! I will continue to read to them and find stories that they love, but I will also take time to read things I enjoy. Time to turn off the TV and crack the books for fun!
  5. Write more letters. Did you ever have a Pen Pal? I had one when I was a teenager and it is still a fond memory of mine. My mom traveled over the summer and sent postcards from their travels and the kids loved it. My plan this year is to let the kids write their grandparents and hopefully find Pen Pals for us all!

So, those are our intentions….do you do these already?

If so, let me know how you keep it going and how it has worked for your family!  

If you find inspiration and plan to implement one or more in your own family, let me know! I’d love to be there to encourage you along the way!

Here is to a happy and healthy 2019 from my family to yours!