New Year's resolutions are easy to set but hard to keep. Research shows that 23% of us quit our resolutions by the end of the FIRST WEEK of January, while 43% drop them by the end of the month.
This time of year, many of us start off full of hope, optimism, and enthusiasm - only to end in disappointment and shame. But why? If we are supporting a growth mindset for our children, why can’t we offer ourselves the same outlook?
Embracing our missteps as parents - both in our personal goals AND in relation to our parenting has many well-documented benefits.
Firstly, it suggests to your children that you are imperfect, human, and still learning. No one likes their role model to be unattainable. Instead, our children want to see that we have much more in common with them than it appears to the naked eye. We are, very much, a work in progress at any age. By joining them in this imperfection, we have the chance to relate to them on a deeper and more genuine level.
Secondly, having a growth mindset for yourself improves your overall mental health, decreasing the risk for depression and anxiety (especially during winter months when seasonal impacts - like less daylight hours and more isolation indoors - can contribute to mood). When you accept that mistakes will happen and that resolutions will fail, you are not surprised or taken aback by each one. Instead, you view these losses as steps on the path to ultimate success.
Finally, a parental growth mindset allows your brain to “try again” when met with setbacks. Unlike the majority of us, someone with a growth mindset will fail in the first month, dust themselves off, and try again. That type of reset honors the resolution as a living, breathing, and ever-moving thing - not a one-and-done goal to succeedor fail at.