Whether you vow to take up running, promise to make your bed every day, or tell yourself you’re going to eat your five-a-day each day of the week, it’s very well known that New Year’s resolutions are almost impossible to stick to. Our lives are so busy, it’s often really difficult to even think up any changes we want to make, so putting them into practice is even harder.
I once heard someone on a podcast saying that it takes an adult at least two weeks to change a habit and it’s easier to make a change if you attach it to something you already do. For this person, it was exercising with a few stretches whilst his coffee machine was working its magic in the morning. I’ve attached listening to podcasts to my solo dog walks and this is something I’ve been able to continue.
I’ve heard a couple of times recently that parents have set up a jar where they write a note when they have done something nice as a family and pop it in the jar. At the end of the year, they open the jar and remember all the great things they’ve done. This can be as simple as playing a board game on a rainy Sunday, or taking the dog for a splash in the river, or could be more elaborate, like a day out to the Wildlife Park or to the Pantomime.
There are some new habits that are easier to adopt and January always seems to be the time of year when people are more inspired to make changes for the better. Here’s a guide to some ideas that might be of interest to Mumbler families, but there are many others!
Getting out and about
The great outdoors is amazing for boosting our mood and providing fresh air and exercise at the same time. There are some great local walks on this Mumbler page: Child-friendly walks, and this one, Feel good forest walks.
Word of the day
With increased use of screens, and story times decreasing rapidly, children are not developing the varied vocabularies that they need to succeed in education. A recent Channel 4 TV programme, Swiped, outlined the problem that children are starting school without the language skills they need, and reduced opportunities for talking in the early years can be a factor in this worrying trend. If you’ve got children with their own phones, Swiped is quite hard-hitting but well worth watching.
Having a word of the day at home can help to introduce new words and there are resources you can buy to help with this, such as Mrs Wordsmith Storyteller’s Word a Day (ages 7-11) , or Mrs Wordsmith Epic Words Vocabulary Book (ages 4-8) , or you can make up your own. Choosing a new word from your bedtime story to use the next day is one way of finding your own, or even asking Alexa for the word of the day is another.
If squeezing in a bedtime story is tricky, audiobooks can be a valuable alternative. You can read more about the benefits of audiobooks here.
Having a poem of the day is also a good way to expand vocabularies and understanding. We have Read Me: A Poem for Every Day of the Year, and though we don’t have chance to read it every day, we dip in and out throughout the year and this often sparks discussion about the theme of the poem or a new word. We used this book a lot during the lockdowns, when we were at home more. We also had The People Awards , which we found really interesting, to learn about key figures in our history. Any books like these broaden knowledge and can spark interest and discussion.
Joining your local library
Your local library is a great place to start for a free activity to do with your children that will benefit both their learning and their wellbeing. Joining the library is free and you can even access thousands of audiobooks through their online service. Here is a list of the local libraries you may be able to access.
Trying new foods
Introducing new foods to children can be really tricky but it’s worth trying again and again as research suggests it can take between eight and 15 tries for a child to accept a new food. January is a good time to add extra fruit and vegetables to your shopping list, and there are lots of new options in the supermarkets as they embrace Veganuary.
Learning to swim
One of the most essential skills for safety is the ability to swim. After the pandemic, swimming lessons were in high demand, and many children are not at the level their older peers were in swimming at their ages. This blog by Everyone Active outlines how swimming lessons can save lives. There’s also a chance to win three months’ swimming lessons!
You can find many options for swimming lessons on this useful Mumbler page: Swimming.
For older children, there are swimming clubs where they can train twice a week or more and take part in galas and events across the county. Some of the clubs in our areas include:
Northallerton Amateur Swimming Club
Derwent Valley Amateur Swimming Club
Ryedale Swimming Club
Yorkshire Coast Swimming Club
Kingfishers Swimming Club
Scarborough Swimming Club
Whitby Seals ASC
Take up a new class
There are lots of different classes that you can do with your little ones, or can take your older children to, and you will find lots of these on Mumbler. From phonics to music, dancing to messy play, or baby massage to parent and baby exercise, you will find a wealth of ideas here: Classes with spaces.
Open a bank account
There are different age limits with different banks but if your children are in their late primary years, it’s likely that there is a bank account available for them to have their own. This can prompt discussion about saving and introduces the idea of managing our own finances, which is essential, especially now that children don’t see adults using cash very often.
Older children (usually around age 11) can have a debit card to withdraw cash directly from their own accounts and for much younger children, you can open an account linked to your own, often with a slightly higher interest rate.
If you are interested in placing a little money into Premium Bonds, this is a no-risk way of making your child’s money grow. There’s a chance to win money each month, without losing any of it. Premium Bonds make a great Christening gift, too! Find out more here.
Ideas for a rainy day
If we get lots of wet and windy weather, there are lots of activity ideas for staying at home on the Mumbler Rainy Day pages. From treasure hunts to making your own playdough, or den building to collage, there are so many things you can do at no extra cost, whilst spending time together and learning new skills. Try some of the ideas here.
Whatever your resolution, for yourself or with your family, it’s important to do what works for you, and if it’s not working, change it! The Cambridge Dictionary defines a New Year’s resolution as: a promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year. Whether it lasts for one day or one hundred days, a change can be a good thing but it doesn’t need to be a chore. We’ve got enough chores as it is!
Good luck!
This blog was written for Ryedale and Thirsk Mumbler, and Scarborough and Whitby Mumbler by Rachel from Wilbur and Flops. The Amazon links are affiliate links to Wilbur and Flops.
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