With the New Year fresh in everyone’s mind, the classic ‘New Years resolution’ can be a good way to reflect on your year past, and what you want to get out of your 2016. Making some resolutions together as a family can be fun, and who knows, it might even convince the kids to help with the chores a bit more, for the first few days at least. Here are some ideas.
New Skills:
The New Year is the perfect time to pick up a new hobby. Whether it’s a new instrument, learning Chinese, knitting, anything goes! Coming up with concrete goals such as how many times a week should be dedicated to practicing can make it a bit more feasible.
Schoolwork:
This could mean reading x number of books a week, starting homework before Mom and Dad have to nag, or just not leaving projects until the night before they’re due.
Get active:
Encourage your child to get involved in a new sport through school, go for walks together as a family, or make a family outing to one of Beijing’s ice-skating rinks. Getting active is fun, healthy, and tends to be at the top of a lot of people’s resolutions!
Helping Mom and Dad:
Ah, the tried-and-tested chore chart. Why not make it a bit more fun – add in a spinning wheel, some bright colors, or some special drawings to help get the kids more involved. We can’t guarantee how long the enthusiasm will last, though!
Practice:
You know the old expression; practice really does make perfect. Do the kids have a favorite hobby, like drawing or writing stories? Think about some ways they can practice this, maybe come up with a goal for a certain amount of times per week, and reward their efforts as they go.
Photo: Wikipedia, Sally_12 (flickr.com)
