NY Resolutions

New Year’s Resolutions as a Parent

Twelve months is a very long time in the world of parenting. You cannot possibly count the tantrums, the bogeys, the amount of times you are vomited on, the tears you wipe, the hugs you give, the food you prepare, the chocolate consumed, the vegetables refused, the battles you won, the battles you lost, the times you’ve yelled, the times you were patient, the baths you gave, the cuddles you received, the car journeys you took, the holidays you went on, the food shops you waded through, the break downs you had, the bad dreams you banished,the budgets you didn’t stick to, the sacrifices you made, the butts you wiped, the rooms you cleaned, the idiots you’ve encountered, or the coffees you consume.

As the end of the year approaches you find yourself, as a parent, reflecting on the year you’re leaving behind and making your new year resolutions as a parent (whether verbally or somewhere in your subconscious). Were you a good parent? Were your children happy? Did you feed them healthy food? Did you yell just enough as to not cross the border into scarring them for life? Did you make fun memories? Did you laugh enough?

When I look back on my year I see a lot of things, both good and bad. I see a momma who yelled, but a also a momma who fiercely loved. I see a momma who wanted to curl up in to a ball and cry for a week solid, but I also see a momma who carried on regardless and made life fun.

We had treasure hunts, spontaneous tea parties, cinema trips, and outings to feed the ducks. We went crabbing, to the fair, on train rides, to theme parks, to the beach, to the forest, to firework parties, to birthday parties. We celebrated our babies birthdays in VIP style, and left no detail to chance. We made Christmas magical. We (my husband and I) poured every ounce of ourselves into making life an adventure for our little people.

The happiness will always outweigh the crappiness.

When I look back I see we had an amazing year, we had low points, sometimes very low points, but the happiness outweighs the crappiness, and always will.

The year ahead is set to be amazing, and by amazing (I am under no illusion believe me!) I mean it will be full of laughter, fun, tears, snot, poop, cheeky four year old’s, terrible two year old’s, birthday parties, wrestling, (a bit of) yelling, time-outs, family holidays, things getting broken, grazed knees, grazed hearts, cleaning, lots and lots of cleaning, meeting new people, saying goodbye to toxic people, not putting up with peoples crap, making fun memories, and making life a fun, secure adventure for my two little boys.

My New Year’s Resolutions

We all know a new year’s post would not be the same without adding some of my new year’s resolutions as a parent, so here they are:

  1. When one of my darling children hand me a huge bogey to dispose of I will not gag loud enough for someone on the next continent to hear. I will work on my gag-reflex
  2. When my name is called for the four hundredth time that hour I will not get irritated; I will smile and respond accordingly
  3. I will try not to yell at all ( or maybe limiting myself to 3 times a day seems a more attainable goal)
  4. I will wash my hair 3 times a week, even if it means showering with a 4yo, a 2yo, Nemo, the whole cast of Monsters Inc, and two squirting penguins. Dry shampoo should not be an everyday essential.
  5. I will brave potty training my little rascal of a 2yo
  6. I will discover a way to get my children to sleep in until 9am every single day. I will. I most definitely will!
  7. I will stay awake past 8.30pm at least on Fridays and Saturdays
  8. I will spring clean the house from top to bottom at least once a week (maybe once a month, or maybe bi-monthly sounds more achievable?)
  9. I won’t run away from the geese when we go to feed the ducks
  10. I will be more sociable. In fact I will be sociable full-stop.
  11. I will assume people like me instead of always assuming they don’t, unless they tell me otherwise.
  12. I will eat healthy. I’m laughing already at this one! Great start, great start, ugh!
  13. I will be more of  a ‘Yes Parent’!
  14. My husband and I will go on at least two date nights a month, and on one out of the two he may get lucky! (As in he may get to choose where we go! Come on! What were you thinking?!!)
  15. I will be less grumpy, even when I am grumpy
  16. I will learn to like wine. Wine always sounds so grown-up and sophisticated. Most taste like paint stripper to me. (I am currently gagging my way through a bottle – resolution completion in full swing!)
  17. I will learn to like watching a movie. Husband this is for you!
  18. I won’t bear a grudge against whoever interrupts my morning coffee!
  19. I will learn to love Lego. And quickly. I will be a Master Builder because everything is awesome!
  20. I will cry less
  21. I’ll love more
  22. I’ll conquer my fears. All of them! (Except spiders, roller-coasters, and wasps!)
  23. I will blog more

And there we have it, my new year’s resolutions a parent! What are yours?

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