The start of a new year can be a great time for reflection and growth, especially for children. You might be thinking of fitness-minded or career-oriented goals, but your kids may benefit from similar lines of thinking, too.

Creating New Year’s resolutions can be a great way to help kids reflect on the past year, highlight their progress in certain areas of life and chart a path forward for the family.

It can also be a way to help encourage your kids to practice healthy behaviors — while setting age-appropriate, realistic and fun goals for the year ahead.

Start with a conversation.

Instead of approaching them with a list of things that you think they could work on, ask them where they would like to go with the conversation. Help them reflect on what’s gone well and what they’d like to do differently. Here are some questions to get you started:

• What’s something you did last year that you’re proud of — and why?
• Is there something you’d like to get better at this year?
• What is something you’ve never done before that you’d like to try?

These questions are open-ended and designed to spark ideas and creativity. They also help children understand that they are in control and able to make changes to achieve these goals, and talking through their answers will start to get their gears turning on how they can do that.

Highlight the fact that your children are capable and can make changes because they want to, not because they have to.

Model self-improvement and reflection.

Some children learn better by doing. If your child learns this way, you might share one of your own New Year’s resolutions and how you plan to achieve it. This will show them that you’re setting goals for yourself and following through with them, and it will teach the importance of self-reflection and self-improvement.

Throughout the year, revisit this conversation. Report back on the progress you’ve made on a goal and the steps you’ve taken to achieve it. You can also share any bumps you experienced along the way and how you overcame it (or adjusted your goal based on changes).

Keep resolutions simple and realistic.

Your kids may already be familiar with the SMART framework for goal setting. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.

Often, New Year’s resolutions are too vague — causing goal failure from the outset. To avoid this, help your kids to understand the importance of goal setting the right way.

As an example, let’s say that your child wants to have a better diet. Instead of their resolution being “eat better,” it could be “add one fruit or vegetable to my lunch every day.” This sets clear expectations, and it’s realistic.

By keeping things simple, you can help them to build momentum and get motivated by regularly following through with this new ritual.

Write down their goals — and keep them somewhere visible.

Research has shown that two factors improve success in achieving goals: having a plan and writing it down. When combined, people who wrote down their plan were three times more likely to succeed in achieving their goals.

Writing, by itself, improves memory and recall. This makes the goal more accessible. Set your kids up for success by working with them to write down their goals and display them somewhere they look at every day.

Think about your kids and their daily routine and what would make the most sense. This could be a whiteboard in their room, a sticker chart on the refrigerator or something completely different. The important part is collaborating with them to figure out the system that will work best for them.

Start the new year on the right foot.

A new year marks the beginning of a lot of new opportunities. Setting goals — for yourself and each member of your family — is a great way to reflect on the year that you’ve had and instill lifelong habits that your kids will cherish and adopt for years to come.

When looking at goals for the year, health can be a common topic. At Tanner Healthcare for Children, we strive to be a true partner in your child’s well-being. We are always here to support you and your family in developing healthy habits and to help you manage any pressing health concerns that may arise.

Visit our website to learn more about the services we offer. To book a sick visit for your child, call 770-812-8640 or use Tanner MyChart.