Your Parenting Values Year-End-Review

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​Lisa here. I hope you and your family have been enjoying this holiday season. As 2022 is winding down, many of us are reflecting on our year. We’re thinking about what went well, what we wish had gone differently, and what we want for the new year. In that spirit, you can do the same kind of self-reflection about how you lived your parenting values throughout 2022. 
 
If you’re not sure what your parenting values are, sign up for our newsletter to get our freebie, Jumpstart Your Parenting. If you’ve been with us for a while, you’ve thought about your values and have been practicing them in your day-to-day life with your kids. You’ve likely had some successes and some areas where you want to do things differently. To help you think through some of how you put your values in action, start by thinking about what has been important to you this year. Then ask yourself the following questions:

1. What have you prioritized as a parent? As an individual? How do those things work with or against each other?
2. Where did you spend your mental energy? Why?
3. Where did you spend your physical energy (time, your actions, your money)? Why?
4. Were your priorities really what you wanted to put first? If yes, great! If no, why did you prioritize what you did?

 
Take a look at your responses to the above questions. What do you notice about how you prioritized things as a parent? Do you feel like you lived your values the way you wanted to?

​Now, for the million-dollar question: Based on what’s truly important to you (your values), what do you want to focus on for 2023? Do you want to keep your priorities the same, or do you want to do some intentional reprioritizing? If you want to do some things differently for 2023, here are some questions to ask yourself to give you some guidance: 
 

1. What do you want to continue to focus on or do in the new year?
2. What do you want to be different in order to protect your real priorities? What do you need to do to make that happen?
3. What do you need to put into place to deal with the things that steal your focus from your true priorities (e.g., set aside time for reflection, hire a babysitter, hire a tutor, get outside assistance, get help from different people than you you’ve been asking, etc.)?
4. If you find yourself getting off track, how will you make adjustments so that you are living your values?

 
If you’ve taken some time to think about the answers to these questions, you now have a gameplan for living your values in the new year. We’ll also be here to support you with the values-based content we have in store for 2023, so stay tuned. We appreciate you coming back to see what we have to say each week and we’re excited to be able to continue to serve you! 

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