New Year's resolutions Archives - The Mom Maven

New Year’s Resolutions for Kids + Free Printable

cindy — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 11:00:30 +0000

The new year is a great time to help your child create some new positive habits and get rid of some bad ones. Talk with your child about what they want to focus on in this new year. What do they want to learn or take responsibility for? This is about them and not about you. You can guide them by asking questions and adding in some ideas of things you want them to do but this is their list. Don’t give them a long list of things that need to change. Help them create a list of 3 things they can be responsible for changing.

To make this process fun, I created a simple, printable form. This form has space for 3 goals, that is plenty for a child to undertake at one time. Also since it has been proven that it takes 21 days of consistency to create a habit, each goal is followed by a chart. Each day that the child accomplishes the goal they can mark off one numbered space. You can just cross it out or you could even put a small sticker on it. The choice is up to you! Just click on this picture to download your chart.

We all know how hard it is to stick to out New Year’s Resolutions so, when they forget something they are trying to work on, gently remind them of their resolution and let them work it out. Do not hold these resolutions over their heads like a bunch of strict rulesthat must be followed “or else”. If your child seems to be having a hard time with a certain resolution, talk with them about it. Why is it so hard? What can you, as the parent do to help them improve in this area?

I love this printable goals chart for kids!
Click To Tweet

A child who successfully makes changes in their own life at a young age will feel empowered to improve other things in their lives. The goal here is accomplishment and success not more harsh rules and possible punishments. Living out your new year’s resolutions is a process that takes time.
Here are some suggestions for New Year’s Resolutions for School-aged children:

Pick up my room before supper every day
Stop picking their nose
Learn to do the laundry
Complete my homework without complaining
Try new fruits and/or vegetables
Learn to fold the towels
Keep my hands out of my mouth
Wear my bike helmet every time I am on my bike
Learn to sweep the floors
Be helpful to others in my home
Go to bed on time without fussing
Get 60 minutes of physical activity
Learn to feed the dog/cat/hamster…
Do my chores without being reminded
Read for 30 minutes

Of course, every child and every family is different-use this list as a springboard for ideas you can discuss with your child.
Happy New Year!

The post New Year’s Resolutions for Kids + Free Printable appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Zone Perfect Blog Forward Challenge

cindy — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 10:43:41 +0000

I don’t like to back down from a challenge so when Zone Perfect asked me to take part in their 2014 Blog Forward Challenge, I said, “Sign me up!” In a nutshell, Zone Perfect will be sending me challenges throughout the year. I am to complete the challenges and share them with you here on my blog.

Zone Perfect Blog Forward Challenge #1

Share 3-5 New Year’s Resolutions and a letter to my future self that encourages me to stay on track or get back on track with those resolutions.

Eat Healthier– 2013 was the year I gained back all the weight I lost in 2012 and then some I can make a lot of excuses as to why but plain and simple, I made poor choices. One way I am doing that is by adding Zone Perfect bars back into my diet. The Chocolate Peanut bar is my absolute favorite and it make a great lunch with a piece of fruit or a delicious afternoon snack.
Exercise-In 2012 I was exercising regularly and even ran two 5Ks. In 2014 I am running the Gasparilla 5K in February and Run or Dye 5K in March, so I already have a start on this resolution too.
Relax-As of 1-1-14 I am no longer employed outside of the house and we are currently looking for a new church home. These two reasons have freed up a lot of time in my schedule but I still find it difficult to relax. I tend to stress over the financial side of being unemployed but since I know God led me to leave my job, He has the next thing coming in His plan, I just need to seek Him. I have also been forcing myself to shut down the computer while watching TV in the evenings and to spend time reading for pleasure.
Grow Spiritually-While we are seeking a new church home I need to focus even more than usual on making sure we all get fed Spiritually. I am currently doing a morning devotion through YouVersion and I’ll be starting an online Bible Study through Proverbs 31 Ministries next week.

Letter to My Future Self

Hey,

How is it going so far? How did the 5Ks go? Are you feeling better? It’s ok if you’ve fallen off the proverbial wagon, it happens to all of us, the important part is getting back on. Remember one of your favorite sayings on your Pinterest board: “At any given moment you have the power to say, ‘This is not how the story is going to end.” Uncle Walt said it best, “Keep moving forward.”

Baby steps are still steps in the right direction. Make a change today that moves you forward, You will feel better about yourself when you do.

I am so proud of the changes you have already made! Keep up the good work!

Love Ya!

~Me

Disclosure-I will receive complimentary Zone Perfect bars for participating in theis challenge. I am also entered into a contest when I complete all of the challenges. All of the opinions, thoughts and plans are 100% mine.

The post Zone Perfect Blog Forward Challenge appeared first on The Mom Maven.

What is Coming in 2009?

Cindy — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:54:00 +0000

I have spent a lot of time this week planning for MomMaven in 2009. I have connected with some PR companies to get some products to review and give away here on MomMaven. I had some cute toys arrive the other day and some women’s jeans and popcorn seasoning have both been shipped out this week!

I have joined Tenporium and The Giveaway Connections and I have applied for Mom Select, and ReviewMe. Today I received word that I was chosen to be a part of Parent Reviewers’ 2009 Parent Review Team! All of these things mean that I will be bringing you more reviews and giveaways! On Monday I have a meeting that I hope will help fine tune the plans for the new year. I am so excited for what this new year holds.

As always, I will continue to have articles that help you become the best mom you can be. While I am in this fine tuning process all of my parenting articles will be available on my Mommy Babble blog. Right now I am in the middle of a series on chores. Please stop on over there and check out my philosophy on children and chores.

I am still working on the blog redesign. It is taking JS-kit over a month to update the code here on my site and that needs to be completed before I can move forward with the redesign or I will lose all of the wonderful comments you have all left so far.

Thanks for your patience, there are great things coming.

Blessings,

Cindy

The post What is Coming in 2009? appeared first on The Mom Maven.

New Year’s Resolutions

Cindy — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 04:28:00 +0000

Since mid-December I have been part of a group on JessicaKnows. Jessica helped us refine our goals for the next year. It was a great experience for me. Jessica also introduced us to a great website 43Things. On 43Things you can create your list of goals, resolutions or your bucket list. You can make your list public or private and others can cheer you along the way. We used 43Things as a place to list our resolutions and cheer others in our group on as they work towards their goals. I have created a list of 11 resolutions for 2009. They are in no particular order, but here they are.

Read More-in 2008 I didn’t read even half as many books as usual and I missed it. I also want to read a variety of genres, especially Christian romance, Business, Leadership, Inspirational and of course, my Bible.
Budget Better-we have taken plenty of courses about finances and we have home a long way, but we have further to go. I want to be more organized with our finances in 2009.
Declutter-we have a small house and a lot of stuff. The house is clean but cluttered and the clutter is starting to drive me crazy. I have created a schedule of 1 room a month to focus on decluttering it. The schedule lasts 6 month and then starts again. I also need to get control of all the papers. I haven’t figured that one out yet, but I will.
Fight the Frump-there are 2 parts to this one. The first is to exercise regularly. I plan to use the WiiFit 30 minutes 4 days a week to start. The second is to work to add new casual clothing to my wardrobe so that I wear fewer jeans and t-shirts.
Drink More Water-I like to drink water. I have always drunk a lot of water when I work outside of the home. When I am home I hardly ever choose water to drink. I have started to drink water and alternate it with my sodas.

Eat Healthy Snacks-I haven’t been snacking much at all but, when I do I need to choose healthier snacks. I don’t keep fruit in the house because it always goes bad before we eat it. That is going to change. The rest of the family needs healthy snacks too.
Take More Pictures and Scrapbook Them-I love to take pictures, I have a decent camera-I just haven’t taken a lot of pictures in the last few years. I am also way behind in my scrapbooking and I am sure somewhere subconsciously I feel that if I don’t take a lot of pictures there won’t be a lot of scrapbooking to catch up on. I have added scrapbooking time into my schedule 2 days a week to help me start getting caught up.

Learn New Things

Step Out of my Comfort Zone-I need to network and meet new people. I have a fear of new people and don’t make friends easily. I am going to step out of my comfort zone and meet new people and create relationships with them.
Connect More with my Husband-We are together a lot. We both work out of our home and homeschool our kids so we see each other all the time. Being physically in the same place isn’t the same as connecting, talking, dreaming together. I am also going to shut off the laptop (aaaagh!) at least once a week and curl up on the couch with him to watch a TV show or movie.
Budget my Social Media Time– It is very easy to let social media take over your life. There is Twitter, Facebook, the 2 fitness forums and 6 .ning networks that I belong to all taking time away from my family. There is nothing wrong with any of these outlets in and of themselves. There can be too much of a good thing. I’ve been asked to join 3 other .ning networks that I have yet to join. After taking January to decide which fitness forum I like better I will cut back to one. I am also not actively participating in 2 .ning networks, participating weekly in 2 and focusing on the 2 that I feel will best benefit me and my family.

What are your goals for this new year? I hope my list has helped you remember some things you wanted to change in your life.

Happy New Year!

The post New Year’s Resolutions appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Fun New Year’s Resolutions

Cindy — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:17:00 +0000

I have been working on my New Year’s Resolutions with Jessica from Jessicaknows.com. When that process is done I will post here. But, today, my friend Sugar Jones is having some fun on her blog. She has a magic 8 ball widget and you can ask the 8 ball if you will succeed at your resolutions. Of course, this is all for fun and I don’t recommend making any major decisions based on what this toy says but…here is what I asked it.
1. Will I be able to lose 6 pounds a month? “Yes, definately.”
2. Will I be able to supplement my income with money earned blogging? “Yes, definately.”
Sounds good to me! Here is the link to Sugar’s sight so you can play too.
Living – In Theory: Magic 8 Ball Resolutions: 2009

The post Fun New Year’s Resolutions appeared first on The Mom Maven.