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Community Corner

One Mom's New Year's Resolutions

I love making New Years resolutions that are sure-fire made-to-order failures. But this year will be different, I swear.

When the clock strikes midnight at the beginning of each new year, I have usually already made up my list of resolutions: no more fast food, no candy or junk food, no more cursing, watch less television, more reading, less eating, lose some weight, go to the gym, get organized, get healthy and be a better mom. These are just a few of the resolutions I make every single year. No pressure or anything, right?

I usually start off with a bang and end a few weeks later in a fizzle.

I've set myself up for failure with such a long list of demands. So many of the things on my list fit under 'be a better mom' anyway.

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If I lose weight, eat healthier, stop eating junk food, and get to the gym–I am providing my children a happier and healthier mother. If I start watching what I eat, my kids will follow suit. Instilling a healthy and fit lifestyle has to be one of the greatest gifts a parent can give to a child. It's just not that easy. It's so easy to pull into the drive-thru or pick up the phone to order a quick dinner after a long day of working, fighting over homework–and all that exercising and organizing I have now promised to do everyday.

If I quit cursing, well, that definitely has to be better for the kids. I don't even curse that often, but recently Peter–my oldest–said a curse word and when I asked him where he heard it, he said he heard it from me. Like the mom in The Christmas Story movie, I replied with a threat of soap in the mouth the next time I heard him use that word. That should be the end of that problem.

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Of course, this problem could be avoided completely if I just stop cursing. (This is called 'lying to myself'–something not on my resolution list. The kids will learn curse words at school and on the bus, so I probably shouldn't beat myself up about a few curse words here and there.)

Now, about watching less television. I don't really watch that much anyway. We have one television and the kids are usually watching Netflix cartoons or playing Wii on it. If I could change one thing this year, that would be it. Maybe I should watch more television, therefore, my kids wouldn't be able to watch TV or play videogames. Of couse, becoming a couch potato to save my children is in direct conflict with my goal of becoming a more fit and healthy mother.

Every year I task myself to get more organized and the most I can say about that is that I am very organized about asking myself to get organized. I do it all the time and I always fail.

Instead of putting all of these requirements and sure-fire failures in my path, the stress of which leads to certain weight gain, I am going to start smaller this year with just two resolutions.

First, I want to get healthier. Everyone knows healthy equals happy. I have had a gym membership at the Springfield Healthplex, which is a beautiful gym but I never go. Could it be that Springfield is too far? I'm checking that theory out with a new membership to in Lawrence Park. We'll see if that is too far from my house, even though I can walk there.

I also want to watch what I'm buying this year and try to support the small businesses in our area. When I was wrapping gifts before Christmas, I noticed that every single toy was made in China. When I started looking around the house, I realized how much of what I have is made in China. I'm pretty sure my artificial Christmas tree was made in China. I actually threw out all of our plastic plates and cups, all made in China. That might have been a mistake. I miss them a lot.

So, this year I've boiled it down to two resolutions: healthy and local. I'm going to get healthy this year and do my best to buy locally made things. I won't care if the house is a mess. I've set a goal for myself and if I hit it, I'm buying myself an iPad, which I can watch television on apparently. Maybe, by the time I reach my goal, it won't be made in China anymore.

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