First of all, Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2014 is the best year for you yet.

Already we have seen Mother Nature take out some frustrations on HRM, but we will survive.

For this post I want to share something I don’t normally do. I rarely ever make new year’s resolutions mainly because I think they are a little silly and most of the time, they don’t last beyond the end of January.

But as a dad, I do like to give myself a self review every now and then to see how I am doing when it comes to me being a solid parent for our boys. I personally think I do pretty good but there is always areas to improve on, so that is where my 2014 resolutions are coming from.

1. I want to get back to learning new things, especially when it comes to something I can teach my boys. Lately we have been discussing skating and hockey for our 4-year old. I don’t know how to skate, so it makes sense that I should learn so I can not only teach my boys but so I can participate.

 

2. I want to start reading more to our 15-month old. If memory serves me correct, we were reading a lot to our first boy by this age. Am I getting lazy on kid two? Maybe. I think it comes down to being more tired. Anyways, I will read more and not skip pages (old parent trick).

3. I want to try to get back to taking better care of myself. I am not badly out of shape by any stretch but I could use more exercise. I could also use more check ups with the doctor and make sure I am optimized to keep up with our boys for many years to come.

4. Finally, I want to do a better job of remembering my partner in crime. My wife. Remembering to tell her how amazing a mom she is and well, how lucky I am to have her around. Let’s not get mushy here, but when you have kids, you can drift away from going on dates, buying flowers and all the romantic things you used to do much more often.

So those are my 2014 resolutions. Nothing major. I am not going mountain climbing or giving up dairy. I just want to be the best dad and husband I can be going forward. No better time to reboot than the start of a new year.

Did you make any resolutions?

 

Michael is a marketing manager by day, who has been at the blogging thing for almost a decade. Father of two, husband to one and griller to the Gods. Read more about his parental adventures, including his current stint on parental leave on his blog, Like A Dad.