HRM Parent Blog

by guest blogger, Katherine VanBuskirk

I’m not a fan of resolutions. But I haven’t always been that way. In fact, there was a time when I planned my resolutions meticulously. Every year they were a unique version of the same old things. Eat better. Exercise more. Be more organized.

I loved it. I eagerly awaited that New Year’s eve tradition of sharing resolutions around the room. It was all so exciting and the perfect way to begin a brand new year.

The thing is, once the pantry was scoured of all sinful treats and I’d elbowed my way through a bunch of overflowing step classes, the novelty began to wear off. By May, the only resolutions that crossed my mind were those I was dreaming up for the next year.

Tired of disappointing myself, I started to avoid resolutions altogether. But this year I’m thinking about them a little differently.

Our kids are getting a little older and we’re experiencing what I’ve see happen in other families. The kids are more self sufficient leaving the parents with just a teensy bit more time on their hands. Enough time to maybe do something for ourselves.

Don’t get me wrong. Our schedule is still busy. We’re definitely not lazing around sipping mojitos, but there are pockets of time here and there. Enough time that I’ve surprised myself with thoughts about trying new things - making an interest an actual hobby and maybe reconnecting with some of the fabulous people that fill my address book.

So this year there are no resolutions. But this year I do plan to spend some time doing things for me. That interest me. That make me happy.

 
I know that it’s important for me to do this, but I think it’s also important that kids see their parents participating in things that interest them - their passions. There will come a day a long time from now, but not really that long at all, when they will see me as a person. Not their nurse, chef or chauffeur, but a person independent of them and our family. And for that briefest of moments, before the spell is broken and I am Mom once again, I hope that the person they see is the best version of myself.

Until then though, my best version is their warm pillow and rapt audience and armed escort. And that’s just fine with me.

Katherine VanBuskirk is a communications professional in Halifax. She is rarely without a latte, a list and at least one of her two children.