Resolving to be a Better Parent

A New Year brings an almost involuntary reaction to set some New Year resolutions and goals. A New Year comes with the idea of a fresh start and new beginnings. Chance to try something new, try something you were not able to achieve in the past year. While there are a lot of the more general resolutions like lose weight, work out more, save more…what about deciding to be a better Parent?

  • Spend Quality  Time – Spending quality time with the children, taking the time to really focus on them. It does not qualify to just be in the same place and then sit glued to the television, blackberry or Ipad. No matter how small the amount of time you have to spare make it really count as quality time that your child will enjoy. Pencil the time in if you have to. You can do anything really read, play with favourite toys, talk…the only rule is to that the time should be uninterrupted.
  • Have One Meal Together – Commit to have at least one meal together as a family, as long as the children can talk it is a good idea to start setting up family meal time. Eating together is a good time for the family to come together and discuss things together as a family. To be practicable you could start with one day a week and schedule it in.
  • Pray Together – Teaching your children to pray and read the Bible daily is a good way to introduce spirituality to your children and teaching them about God. if you take the time to show them how important it is they will grow up making God their priority and making time for God. Practising to pray with the family builds their confidence and encourages them to pray.
  • Visit their Schools – Some parents are able to drop and pick their children in school regularly, while some parents are only able to show up on the expected open days and school events. Try to schedule sometime now and then to just pop into your childs’ school. There is something nice about seeing the teachers, observing your child’s learning environment. Your children can talk about school and what happened.
  • Read Together – Read together, start with a chapter a day if you are short on time. If you have older children you can read the newspapers or a magazine. Reading leads to interaction and discussing.

What other ways do you plan to be a better parent this year?

Scroll to Top