We're bundled up here for the New Year.
My kids had fun counting down the New Year. By the time midnight came, one was in bed, but my older son stayed up to watch the ball drop and leaped and shouted "It's 2015! It's 2015!"
We all need new beginnings. As I pointed out to my kids, January 1st is just one type of New Year in the world. According to our calendar, it's 2015. Soon it will be year 4713 according to the Chinese New Year. Or we can go even older and say it's 5775, following the Jewish calendar system, which celebrates New Year's in the fall.
Give yourself a New Year anytime you need it. Refresh your parenting and your relationship with your child. If you're like me, good intentions fall to the side when life gets busy, so declare today a New Year. Start afresh each month if you need to. Put a new parenting idea into action. Try something you've been meaning to try. Maybe it's renegade sharing - letting the child decide when she's "all done" with a toy - or maybe it's writing dictated letters summing up your child's big, mad feelings.
New Year's can be anytime. Children are constantly changing, and so are we. Let go of past parenting mistakes and forgive yourself. It's time to move on. Today's a New Year.
When do you think of the New Year? Fall - during back-to-school time? Spring? Mid-winter? Are you hesitant about trying new approaches since your kids are so used to your old ways? Happy New Year!
This blog is by Heather Shumaker, author of It's OK Not to Share...and Other Renegade Rules for Raising Competent and Compassionate Kids.
I guess I think of New Season's more than New Year. A new golf season in March or April is the start of imagining the possibilities of mastering the stupid game at least once.
Fall is the season to refresh after a (usually) hot summer. Fall colors, blue sky days with billowy clouds, and cool nights with windows wide open make for invigorating sleep (which is NOT an oxymoron. 🙂 )
Jan. 1 is the start of my fiscal New Year, which is the time to evaluate spending and savings goals and adding up last years income and expenses to see if we gained or lost financial ground.
And of course there's the start of baseball season around April 1 and hockey season around November 1 (college of course--go Gophers!)
I try to avoid specific "resolutions" and just do what needs to be done when I evaluate what needs fixing or improving. Don't need a specific date for that.
I'm sure school-aged kids' new years revolve around the first day of school in the fall, not Jan. 1. I based my life perception on that, exclusively. Jan. 1 was just a day to celebrate starting a new calendar, eating good food with family, and watching football all day.
Good topic, Heather
Chris
Love your idea of New Seasons. Very true, it's how we live our lives. So many new starts and seasons of life for everything.