Parenting Resolutions That Aren’t Just Wishful Thinking
These days I’m still very busy crawling out of the summer vacation, one of the worst summers I’ve had with my kids in a LONG time.
My head’s still spinning from toilet training LY, my 3 year old, trying to make his older siblings happy as each one of them pulls in a different direction, and making sure to be home when my other son’s back from school (he started school two weeks before everyone else).
I ended up napping on the couch almost every morning, after trying to fit in some time for myself when all the daily meshugas or craziness was over at the late night hours.
And when I’m tired and sluggish, and my newly-trained son doesn’t allow anyone but me to accompany him to the bathroom, I am not fun to be around. I don’t even like myself anymore…
…and boy, DO I SHOUT!
Luckily for my family, on the Jewish calendar September First and New Year’s Eve are sometimes barely 2 weeks apart, so there’s a natural pull to choose a resolution that’s directly related to parenting.
Now, I’ve learned to stay far, far away from counterproductive resolutions such as the highly popular “yell less”, “release control”, “be more present”, or “eat healthy”.
Not that anyone in my home would argue that I don’t need to work on those. It’s just that I’ve already learned the difference between realistic resolutions vs. Wishful Thinking.
So what’s the problem with resolutions? RESEARCH shows that a quarter of the people who make a resolution ABANDON it by the end of the first week.
In today’s episode, I reveal the 3 WH-questions I ask myself in order to nail down what I need to work on next. These questions help me stay away from general statements, and look back proudly at the end of the year at my achievement.
It’s the choice of glue vs. glitter: My resolution won’t make headlines, but the important thing is that I have confidence that I can run with this resolution for a while. And when I conquer it, I’ll move on to tackling the next item on the list that I made (as you will see in the episode).
If you like this kind of challenge, I want to invite you to follow me on as I go through this process, step by step, from beginning to end—from picking an issue, all the way to finding the solutions that are the best fit for my family.
What you’re about to witness on this new feature of UpsideDownPareting.com is the kind of inner work that I’ve been doing successfully for several years now. It’s that sweet spot, “where parenting meets personal growth”, as I like to think of it. . In order to get these personal reports from me, check out the details on the link below this video (on UpsideDownParenting.com.)
Wishing you and your loved ones a beautiful, happy, sweet new year,
P.S. You can follow my inner work on my parenting resolution here.