Every year around this time, we find ourselves having conversations about New Year’s resolutions. They often focus on physical health (exercise more, eat less), finances (spend less, save more), or mental health (sleep better, reduce stress). Some of us feel ambitious and aim for all three, and if we are lucky, we make it to February before stepping away from them altogether.
But what if, instead of setting resolutions, we shifted our mindset and focused on mindful intentions that support a better quality of life for ourselves and our families?
Making Resolutions vs Setting Intentions
Resolutions tend to be rigid goals. They often measure success in all-or-nothing terms, which can quickly lead to frustration once life gets busy and unpredictable. Intentions, on the other hand, are present-focused guiding principles. They shape how you want to live, feel, and show up each day.
While resolutions emphasize outcomes, intentions focus on process and mindset. This flexibility allows for reflection, adjustment, and self-compassion along the way. As a result, intentions often feel more aligned with personal values and support growth that is more sustainable and far less stressful.
Once intentions are clear, small daily practices help bring them into real life.
Setting Intentions Together as a Family
Setting intentions as a family creates space for meaningful conversations about what matters to each person and how they want to move through the year ahead.
For families navigating disability or vision loss, these shared conversations can also help create common language, understanding, and emotional steadiness. These conversations might focus on cultivating acceptance to feel calmer, building independence to strengthen confidence, or developing a more positive mindset at school or at home.
Depending on a child’s developmental stage, these discussions can be guided with age-appropriate questions.
For Younger Children, You Might Ask:
- What helps you feel settled and calm?
- What sounds or smells do you enjoy?
For Middle-years Children, You Might Explore:
- How can we feel grateful for the tools that help us every day?
- When do you feel most in control of your surroundings?
For Teenagers, Reflection Might Sound Like:
- What are my strengths?
- When do I feel motivated and energised?
When parents meet children where they are emotionally, it becomes easier to guide them toward resilience and self-understanding. And while calm children do not guarantee a calm household, emotional awareness goes a long way toward creating a more regulated family environment.
Mini-Practices for Everyday Life on the Go
Even after thoughtful conversations and good intentions, real life still happens. Days can be messy, loud, rushed, and unpredictable.
That is where micro-practices come in. These are short, simple strategies that can help shift the nervous system from stress to stability when time and energy are limited. Like any skill, they work best when practised during calm moments, so they are familiar when challenges arise.
Three short Practices Families can Build into Daily Life.
- Calming the inner storm
Imagine a birthday cake in front of you, candles and all. Take a slow breath in through the nose if possible. Pause briefly in the middle and make a wish for yourself or someone you care about. Then exhale through the mouth, blowing out the candles. These are trick candles, so you may need to repeat this two or three times!
This playful image helps slow breathing and gives children something concrete to focus on when emotions feel big.
Sit quietly and bring to mind a time when you did something that felt challenging, but you did it anyway. Notice how it felt in your body at that moment. Stay with that feeling for a few breaths. This practice takes less than a minute and can be used before school, appointments, or difficult conversations. When needed, you can return to this feeling as a reminder of your own capability.
- Cultivating a positive perspective
Think of a small disappointment, such as rain on a picnic day. Together, come up with alternative activities that could still make the day enjoyable. This helps train the brain to notice possibilities rather than getting stuck in setbacks.
The key with all of these practices is consistency, not perfection. Build the skill when everyone is calm. Strengthen the muscle before you need it. Then, when things feel out of sync, it becomes easier to return to what you have practised.
Some families find it helpful to anchor intentions to a single word such as calm, strength, or positivity.
And when all else fails, because some days it will, self-compassion remains one of the most reliable tools we can lean on. It helps us move through difficult moments and find our way back to steadiness, one breath at a time.
By setting intentions and practicing these small, realistic strategies together, families can create a supportive and mindful environment where everyday stress, including the challenges that come with vision loss, is met with understanding, flexibility, and shared strength.