Keeping New Years’ Resolutions is basically impossible (almost as impossible as staying up till midnight on New Years Eve). Every year I resolve to exercise. And I do! I exercise! For 3 days … And then my life gets crazy or the kids get sick or the laundry gets too overwhelming and my workout resolution dies before I’ve even discovered I still have abs. And I know I’m not alone in this. It’s hard enough to keep resolutions before you’re a parent, but once you have kids forgettaboutit. Parenting is so intense. So overwhelming. It can be hard to find time for ourselves.
So this year I’m making a new kind of resolution. One I can actually keep. I’m resolving to talk to my kids about responsible alcohol consumption. Research shows that parents have the biggest influence on their kids decision to drink—or not drink. Yes! Believe it or not we have influence! The kids might act like they don’t listen to a word we say, but they are listening. And talking to your kids, as young as 6-years-old, about making smart decisions about alcohol is the best way to prevent them from engaging in underage drinking. And all it takes is a conversation. Or ten. Because really it’s an ongoing dialogue.
So join me, Responsibility.org and a host of AMAZING bloggers and resolve to talk to your kids about alcohol. It’s a resolution we can all keep. Exercise be damned.
And have a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Enjoy my look back at a year in parenting with the fabulous bloggers Jennifer Borget, Casey Brown, Charlie Capen, Jenni Chiu, Laura Fuentes, Whit Honea, Jill Krause, Anna Luther, Jen Mann, Julie Miner, Sili Recio, Christine Young and Dr. Deborah Gilboa. If your year was anything like ours, you did a LOT of laundry, cleaned a lot of messes and ended the week with a (responsible) glass of wine. So cheers! Here’s hoping you stay up past 9pm this New Years Eve! Please SHARE and spread the word about talking to your kids about making responsible choices with alcohol. xo, Deva