Parents of school children often have two New Years. There’s the beginning of the calendar year on January 1 and then several weeks later, we have the beginning of the school year. For many of us, that’s the day the year and all of its activities truly starts.
What thoughts come to mind when you think of a New Year? “New Year – New You!”? “Fresh Start!”? “I’m glad that old one’s finished!”? “Freedom!”? “Peace and Quiet!”? “Oh no – the start of another frenetic round of endless activity!”?
How do your children feel about 2018? Are they excited to be back at school? Anxious about it? Somewhere in between or both excited and anxious? Maybe this is your child’s first year at school (or first year at Mueller) and you’re feeling both excited and anxious for them. New beginnings can be both exciting and scary. We’re all different and how we or our children feel about a new year may differ from year to year depending on the type of year we’ve had. It is useful to have a quick reflection on the past year and note what has gone well and what things we might change this year. It’s a good skill to encourage in our children.
A lot of us love new things and see a new year as an opportunity for a fresh start. New teachers, new classmates, new subjects and new learning are challenges that our children face. We can encourage and support them by focusing on the positive sides of this.
While we use the new year to take stock of our past year and plan for the new one, we don’t need to wait a year to do this again. Some days are great, but some are harder than others. We can reflect (and encourage our children to reflect) at the end of a day on that day, and look forward to the day ahead. One of my favourite Bible verses comes from Lamentations 3:22-23a, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.” I love that I don’t have to wait for a new year to make a fresh start – God gives us what we need, when we need it, each and every day – not just once a year. Each day is a fresh start. May 2018 be a year of blessing for you and your family.
