Make resolutions as a family and there will always be someone there for support!

I've made my share of personal resolutions, and usually either forgotten or broken them quite quickly. I always start with the best of intentions, but soon get caught up in something more urgent or important.

But I wonder what would have happened, had I decided that we could have done New Year's Resolutions together as a family? Would the resolutions have more staying power and achieved more successful results?

I should have used the days before January 1 to call a family meeting. We could have discussed the previous year, and tossed out new ideas for change in the coming year. Ideas could have included new experiences to go through, pesky habits to overcome, new achievements to attempt, or old memories to revisit. Ideas from picking up dirty clothes to a family vacation could have been entertained. We could have chosen one or several as our resolutions for the upcoming year, as long as we all agreed on them.

Once our resolutions were chosen, we would have chosen action steps to accomplish our resolutions. We could have each recognized our part to further our goal, as well as the roles of each of our family members. We would recognize that it would be a family resolution, and we would all be in it together.

We would have created a way to display our resolution, and a way to mark our progress. We should have all contributed to the display, and continued to add to it throughout the year with obvious steps forward, as well as encouraging notes.

By the end of that New Year, we would have seen success in several ways. We would have worked together on a goal, each pulling our own weight, yet encouraging each other. We would have seen our family grow together as we worked on a joint project. We could have solved problems, experienced new adventures, recognized new strengths in each other, and gained new respect for each other.

We would have accomplished something together as a family that made our family stronger.

At the end of the year, we should have celebrated the resolutions we made, whether we accomplished all that we had planned or not. Because in the end, it wouldn't have been the resolution that needed celebrating, but our family. Our family, who together recognized a common goal we wanted to accomplish, who worked together to achieve it, and who grew closer together, no matter what the outcome. What resolution could be better than that?

About the Author:

Luanne Davidson is the proud mother of three adult children and wonders what might have been if she had done a thing or two differently. She writes her "Coulda, Woudla, Shoulda" column each Thursday.

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