Do you encourage your kids make new years resolutions? I’ve started making resolutions throughout the year whenever I feel I need to make a change but there is something special and a feeling of a fresh start that only a new year brings. I especially love making them at this time of year and have been thinking about encouraging Anya to do the same.
Last year we talked to her about making new years resolutions and while she liked the idea, she struggled to come up with what resolutions to make. I’ve since realised that she’s a bit too young to come up with resolutions herself so this year I’ve decided to give her some prompts which will help. I’ve come up with a list of 10 questions and prompts which I plan to give her and see what she comes up with. I thought I would share them here in case they inspire you to do the same with your kids. So here are my ideas for new years resolutions for kids:
What I especially like about resolutions is that it allows you to take a little time out and think about yourself – what you like about yourself and what you feel you can improve on. For me, resolutions aren’t just about changing the bad but also a lot about doing more of what you are good at or love. They’re about broadening your horizon’s and living a more fulfilled life. So are you going to be making resolutions? And will you encourage your kids to?
Each year I make some resolutions (or goals which is the word I prefer) either for my work or perosnal life or most often for both. But in all honesty, come March/April they are long forgotten and or at least I haven’t stuck to them. This year I want things to be different. There are of course changes I want to make but I need to find a way to stick to them. When I started thinking about this last week and wondering how I could be better at sticking to my goals, it suddenly hit me as to where I was going wrong. In the past I’ve sat down and made a general list (either on paper or in my head) of big changes I want to make, without much thought given to how I was going to make these changes. After a while these changes can start to feel overwhelming and I would mostly end up not pursuing them at all.
One of my goals for this blog is to mix the content up a bit more. While I don’t plan to stop featuring gorgeous kids stuff, I want to add more DIY, recipes, personal family experiences, my own styled shoots etc. This can feel like a big task (especially with a huge house renovation project coming up and my new shop to add to my normal workload) because creating more of my own content will take time. As an example, an idea for one post struck me today. In the past this idea would have been added to a list, I would have tried to plan how I’m going to do this along with other stuff over the course of the year, where I’ll find time, trying to put a list of ideas together for the year – no more. I took the simple step of emailing the brand that I wanted to collaborate with and that’s it for today. When (and if) they come back to me, I shall take the next little step. It might seem like the obvious thing to do but I know that I definitely wasn’t doing it right in the past.
So this year my resolutions don’t look anything like big, huge things to accomplish. Instead I have a rough idea of the big picture in my head but that is not my focus at all. My focus is doing at least one small thing each day that will over the period of the year, add up to my big goals. I am not going spend time thinking about the big end goal but all I want to think about is what is that one little thing I can do today. That’s it – just one small step every day.
After one year I shall see if this little daily method works for me or not. Have you made goals for the year? Do you usually stick to them? If you do, I’d love to hear how you manage to make it happen. Maybe you already do one small thing each day?
It’s that time of year when many of us start thinking of new year resolutions. I never make formal lists or even scribble down my resolutions but I do think of a few things in my head. Recently I’ve been thinking that I’m not having enough family time even at the weekends as we are crazy busy with a house move, work and everything else. So one of my top priorities for next year is more quality family time.
One way to ensure that we switch off and really have quality time together is to go away somewhere for the weekend which I want to do a lot more of next year. But in the past whenever I’ve thought of getting away, I always think of going abroad. It never occurs to me to get away within the UK which is so much more do-able even at short notice. A little while ago we wanted to get away and of course I started thinking Berlin, Paris or Venice. But as we had only a couple of free days and couldn’t manage a trip to the continent I almost gave up on the idea of going anywhere when I remembered reading about some wonderful UK breaks over at my my friend Honest Mum’s blog. That inspired me to think closer to home and after a quick search I thought about visiting Woburn. It’s not too far from London, has a lovely safari park which I knew Anya would love and some great places to eat which Richard and I would love.
We only managed an overnight stay in the end but that was fine. We got there and had a quick but delicious lunch at The Black Horse. We would have preferred a slightly more relaxed lunch but someone was desperate to get to the safari park! So off to the park we went. And it was fun; really fun for all three of us. The park has a mixture of animals most of whom roam freely within very large enclosures that you drive through. You have to stay in your car for obvious safety reasons but it was still so fun to see animals like tigers, bears and lions up close. No photo’s of these as of course we couldn’t put our car windows down to snap any. The highlight for me was definitely seeing the big cats which I love. But for Anya it was the drive around the monkey area. The monkeys jump on your car and sit there for ages which was really exciting for her.
The next morning we headed to Woburn Abbey and the surrounding gardens which are stunning. We walked around the place enjoying the gardens and the beautiful architecture. Anya got to run around, climb on rocks and just enjoy being outdoors as kids do.
After visiting Woburn I knew that next year I would make a conscious effort to get away within the UK more often. Just quick weekend trips that really allow you to spend quality family time together away from the stresses of everyday life and you get to enjoy the wonderful sites that England has to offer. With inexpensive hotels like Travelodge dotted around the country and so many wonderful places to see, eat at and relax, there really is no excuse not to. This short trip really opened my eyes to getting away within the UK and having a burst of pure family time without any distractions. I can’t wait to get away again and would love some recommendations on where to go as a family? Where have you been that you think is a must go to within the UK?
This post is brought to you in partnership with Travelodge. All ideas, words and images are my own. Thank you for supporting my work with partners that support this blog.
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Ebabee Likes is a style guide for babies, kids, teens and their mamas. It’s all about inspiration, ideas and indulging yourself and your brood. It’s written by me ~ Nomita ~ a style loving girl from Mumbai who now live’s in London. Read More...
Do you encourage your kids make new years resolutions? I’ve started making resolutions throughout the year whenever I feel I need to make a change but there is something special and a feeling of a fresh start that only a new year brings. I especially love making them at this time of year and have been thinking about encouraging Anya to do the same.
