Planning the Year with your Child

The new year is such a great time for a fresh start. It’s a great opportunity to relook at the way we are spending our life, and make changes, however small, that can help us live a better life. And why not encourage our children to do the same!

Here are a few ideas to help you plan your new year together with your child:

1. Plan your own life:

Planning your year, really helps you be intentional and do the things that matter most to you, rather than letting unimportant things take up all your time. Read this blog: ‘New Year Goals’ to help you get started.

2. Help your child plan their year:

Take your child out for a special time. Take a notebook and pen and do this together. Some questions you can ask your child to help them plan:

• What is something new you want to start this year?
• What is something you want to stop (or change) this year?
• What is something you want to learn this year?
• What is something you can do that will make a difference to someone else?

(You can get more ideas from the blog on ‘Planning The Summer Holidays’. You can use it for planning their year, rather than just their summer holidays.)

3. Make Family Goals:

Sit down together as a family and come up with some goals together for the year.

Some of the things you can discuss:

• What is something we want to do together as a family this year?
• What is something that we can do together weekly?
• What is something that we can do once this year?
• What would the children like the parents to do more?
• What would the parents like the children to do more?
• As a family, what can we do for someone else, or for the community?
• If we were to have a word for the year as a family, what would it be?

4. Start a Gratitude Jar:

Keep a jar in a prominent place in your home with small slips of paper and a pen next to it. Ask every member in the family to write things they are grateful for during the year, along with the date. It can be as small as ‘Mama helped me make a cool tower’, or ‘We bought a car today.’ Regularly remind each one to write and put it in the jar. At the end of the year, you can open up the jar together and read what’s inside. It’s a great way to record the year and be grateful for the small and big things in life.