With the start of 2020 just around the corner, why not take the opportunity to create some meaningful new year’s resolutions as a family? Why not establish some attainable goals as a family and then celebrate your successes throughout the year?

Here are some concepts to consider to help your family grow this year:

Make this an AWESOME year. Author, athlete, and advisor, Wade Lightheart, came up with an acronym that could serve families well as a springboard for this year’s resolutions.

A – Air
W – Water
E – Exercise
S – Sunlight
O – Optimizers
M – Mental attitudes
E – Education

Imagine how many ways there are to apply this acronym to enhance your family’s health and enjoyment of life!

• A – Air – How about making it a goal to get fresh air more often? A brisk hike is invigorating, even in the winter. Springtime offers the opportunity to enjoy fresh air as you plant a garden together. Summer brings the fun of biking or swimming outdoors, and fall air can be enjoyed while raking leaves together, jumping in them, and then bagging them up.
• W – Water – Why not make clean water the top beverage choice in the home? Brainstorm with your kids how many ways you can create delicious flavors by adding fresh mint leaves to the water, colorful lemon, zesty lime, or even a few cucumber slices to change it up a bit. Science teaches us that our bodies are best hydrated when we consume approximately one half of our body weight in ounces each day.
• E – Exercise – Have you heard that sitting is the new smoking? It’s bad for our health to sit and be sedentary. Why not make movement a family goal for the new year? Train for a local charity run or walk together; join a community track club together, or cheer your kids on as they engage in recreational or competitive sports teams. Take family hikes in the woods. Enjoy a bike ride at the Riverparks together. Bixby, Broken Arrow, and Tulsa families have an awesome opportunity with Tulsa’s new Gathering Place on the river. Go to the Gathering Place, leave the phones behind, and play together on the amazing playground to make memories that last a lifetime.
• S – Sunlight – There’s nothing like a day in the sun together as a family, so why not make time in the sunshine part of your new year’s resolutions? Exposure to the sun helps our bodies make vitamin D, which helps us absorb calcium for stronger, healthier bones. Sun also helps us make serotonin — which assists us in staying healthy mentally. Make memories in the sunlight as a family. Why not schedule campouts, canoe trips, rafting trips, and adventures in the sun to make this year a healthy and memorable one?
• O – Optimizers – Although enzymes and probiotics are the health optimizers Wade Lightheart recommends, why not look for optimizers to create healthier family time this year? Some family time optimizers could be: having meals together with no phones at the meals, establishing a family game night, and giving to others in need as a family at a soup kitchen, nursing home, or church. Optimize family time by being intentional while you are together. Perhaps your commute to soccer practice, music lessons, or school could be spent with screens off so you can enjoy each other’s company. Seize the day and enhance the moments you have with your children by establishing and sticking to regular periods of no screen time.
• M – Mental attitudes – How about making positive attitudes a goal for next year? The glass is way more than half full. There is always a bright side to every situation; we just have to choose to see it. What about embracing thankful attitudes as a goal? Imagine how pleasant life would be if every night at dinner, you took turns saying something you are thankful for about your day.
• E – Education – Why not make reading a part of your new year’s goals? Consider picking out the books you would like to read together and posting the list in your kitchen where you can readily see them and look forward to reading together. The time you take to read to your children will enhance their education and vocabulary. Take the time to experience the adventure of reading together.

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