Five Family New Year Resolutions You Can Actually Keep

I’m one of the worst at resolutions, just take a look at my planner. You’ll see days and days of planned workouts that never happened and Whole 30’s that weren’t finished. However, last year I resolved to make better resolutions.

I love the new year simply because of the hope for change and fresh starts. There’s nothing better to me than starting over. So with that, here are a few suggestions for resolutions you can make this January and keep all year.

1. More White Space

New Year Resolutions

This year, plan to not have every inch of your life filled. Leave white space in your planner. I know myself well enough that if I am on the go too much, I start to get sick. That was remedied a few years ago by learning to say no. Sometimes I say yes, and then have to back out. But saying no won’t hurt anyone. You have to do what’s best for you and your family, and sometimes that involves being less involved. Kids benefit from being outside and not over scheduled, and so do we. So this year, take time to breathe and do what you love.

2. Eat more meals together as a family.

I’m from a family that didn’t eat every meal at the kitchen table. I knew that eating together was something I valued for my own family and after we had our child, that became a tradition. Now it’s rare that we don’t eat dinner together. It’s a great way to catch up at the end of the day and talk about the day’s events.

3. Start new family traditions.

Once our child is older, our Friday night will turn into game night. At the moment, my husband and I have a Friday night tradition of getting ice cream, getting in bed, and watching Netflix. There’s also Monday Night Breakfast that my hubby started … granted I cook it. This year we are working in a scripture Advent calendar to our bedtime routine for Christmas. Regardless, start a new family tradition. Your children will look back as adults and cherish the time spent together.

4. Play outside more.

Exercise together as a family by biking at the park. Play in the yard with your children. Or sign up for a family 5K with your older kids. Vitamin D is great for our moods, and honestly kids just aren’t outside as much as we were. (Hello 90’s children that wandered like stray cats!) I’ve come home super stressed and in a foul mood, but after playing around in the garden with my toddler, I come back in the house a whole new person. Playing outside as a family is something we are always trying to do more of at our house, and no one ever comes back inside regretting it.

5. Try one new food a week.

I get the picky eater thing; we have one. I did everything I could think of to prevent it, and here we are … a chicken nugget family. One way my mother tried to fight this when we were children was by allowing us to pick out fruits and veggies at the store. I fondly recall buying some odd fruit or vegetable we found and coming home to taste it. The first star fruit we ever ate is still a vivid memory. Allowing your kids to pick out new foods can turn into your child being more adventurous with their eating and finding a new food they love. Even if it doesn’t work, it was worth it just to try.

What are some resolutions you plan to make and keep this year?

Emily Babb
Emily, originally from North Louisiana, lives with her husband Jeremy and sons Harrison & Elliot in New Iberia. She's an elementary teacher by day and blogger by night at her personal blog Louisiana Bride. She began blogging to document planning her wedding and has since moved to sharing recipes, meal planning ideas, and the humor in daily life. Emily enjoys yoga, gardening, camping, and is a closet hippie. When she isn't having a toddler crawl all over her while she attempts to workout while simultaneously cooking dinner, you can find her reading a good book or watching old BBC documentaries on YouTube. She use to be cool, but somewhere in adulthood all those concerts quit happening and a mini van showed up in the driveway.

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