The New Year

I am not a fan of making New Year’s Resolutions. I think they put a lot pressure on us to achieve more, get more and do better.

I am a fan of those things but I really strive for that in my everyday life. I strive to be the best parent I can be to my kids who, frankly, need two kinds of parenting. I strive to be a better advocate for the kids and I am slowly trying to teach them to be their own in the world. I strive to be the partner I want my kids to have one day in their long-term relationships and I try to set a good example of a good friend.

If I’m honest, I also don’t want my kids to see me fail and be upset because I didn’t achieve a goal. I don’t mind them seeing me try and not reach a goal, but I don’t want to set it up so that every bit of my confidence hangs in the balance of achieving the ONE BIG GOAL. And that’s what I think can happen with New Year’s Resolutions; for me anyway. I think it’s the pressure that gets to me.

When I go to bed at night I think about what I want to do the next day and it always involves something to…

• –          Help my kids reach their potential,
• –          Teach my kids about advocacy and activism,
• –          Be nice
• –          And to make sure the people I love know it.

I don’t proclaim to know how every parent of special needs kids feel about resolutions. But I guess that some feel like they resolve to do things everyday like I do. So even though the New Year allows us to think about it as a fresh start, to me it really is just another day, another resolution.

How do you approach New Years? Official New Year’s resolutions or not?

Happy New Year! My wish is that 2011 is kind to all of us and if it’s not, my wish is that we will find the strength, perseverance and resolve to make it another day.