Happy New Year from Your Parenting Info. Struggling to stay up until midnight, watching a 107-year-old Dick Clark gamely host the show for the 85th time, and listening to some singer I’ve never heard of use the words “douche bag” prominently on national television, I got to thinking about New Years celebrations and traditions as they apply to parenting.
On New Year’s Day, I listened to peers my age, who ought to know better by now, gripe about their hangovers. I watched college football and started a new fitness routine (they really should make a Wii UnFit for people who aren’t quite ready for the Wii Fit). Again, I pondered the arbitrary selection of January 1 as the start of a new year and the implications it has to our children.
Kids do what they see, not what they hear. What kind of example are we setting for our children? Kids, from a very early age, are more perceptive than we give them credit for. I very much doubt that the children of hung over parents failed to notice something’s up. What message does that send? It’s never too early to start not glorifying alcohol for our children.
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. If I did, there’d be something about being a better role model for my sons in there. Something about showing them how to be men, spending more time outside and less in front of the TV, and giving the kids every opportunity I can.
There’s nothing magical about the date on the calendar, but the turn of the new year is a good time to reflect on who you’ve been and who you want to be and what you want for your children. Now is a good time to make a commitment instead of a resolution. When we all look back on 2011 a year from now, let’s make sure we can see it as the year in which we connected with our children like never before.