Setting Healthy Family Goals in 2023

We’re already several days into the New Year!

Seriously, how did that happen?

I don’t know about you, but I think I spent a little more time than usual trying to come up with some new year’s goals and resolutions for 2023.

(After the last few years, you need all the resolve you can get, right?)

On the last day of every year (or the first day of the new year), our family gathers in the evening to share things we’re thankful for about the year that is ending, as well as our personal goals and resolutions for the upcoming year.

This year was no different, and I always love to hear my kids talk about what their highlights were.

When they were younger, it was often centered on gifts they’d just gotten for Christmas, but they also remember things I’d forgotten, like trips we’d taken or activities we’d done as a family.

It always makes me eager to try to fit in more of those times.

To find ways to embrace and encourage healthy living as a family.

And I wanted to share a few of those ideas here.

It’s not like I’ve made specific resolutions about each of these, but I am trying to create more space in my days and have more of a focus on healthy living, not just as an individual but as a family also.

1. Make More Family Meals from “Scratch”

Chili con Carne

I got a bit of a head start in this kind of lifestyle during my years in India.

When I wanted to make spaghetti, for instance, I didn’t buy a can of tomato sauce or ready-made Prego from a jar.

I boiled tomatoes, peeled them, and blended them, then boiled the sauce with spices.

In other words, meal making was a process that usually started with the food in its most organic, natural form.

This isn’t to say that I don’t ever use sauce from a jar. I always have canned tomato sauce on hand for when I don’t have a lot of time to cook.

Vegetable Korma Curry

But I do love how much richer flavors can be when I take the time to source basic ingredients.

(And they really don’t have to be the organic variety that costs three times more in a grocery store in order for the meal to be healthy.)

On the side are photos of a couple of meals I’ve made so far this year: chili con carne and vegetable cream curry.

Bonus “healthy family” tips:

• Have one of your kids help you with meal prep for some one-on-one time
• Eat together as a family when you can
• Keep media devices away from the table

2. Make Exercise Fun (and a Family Activity)

So, I feel silly admitting this, but I got our family one of those little “exercise” trampolines for the new year.

I’ve been way more sedentary this past year than I should have been, and although I don’t have a particular weight-loss goal, I do have the goal to fit in more active moments in the upcoming year.

Greek tree strawberries

I was excited about the trampoline and envisioned my kids fighting over who got to use it first … but my kids didn’t exactly share my enthusiasm.

But they were thrilled about the idea of fixing up their bikes and going for a bike ride together as a family.

So that’s exactly what we did on Sunday.

We took an hour-long bike ride, which isn’t much … (but it’s a start for someone like me, who was winded in the first 15 minutes).

We also took a route we’d never traveled before and discovered a line of Greek strawberry trees and a gorgeous sidewalk of autumn leaves.

3. Make Screen Time a Family (Rather than Solitary) Thing

When I was growing up, anything I watched, my whole family watched.

We didn’t really have a lot of options in that area, as there was only one television.

Today, our household has … well, a lot more. Between television screens, computer screens, and phone screens, there is the potential for lots of screen time.

And as my kids grow older, they have diverse interests, so it’s hard to get everyone to come together to watch something as a family.

Still, we try to watch something together every other Friday (even if it’s a single episode of The Mandalorian).

Stove-popped popcorn is the requisite snack on such nights.

More recently, I’ve also been watching videos with just one of my kids, as per their particular interests.

My daughter and I enjoy a show, and we’ve been slowly going through the seasons. We don’t allow ourselves to “binge” by never watching more than two episodes at a time.

My boys like watching certain YouTube channels.

While that’s never been my thing, I’ll sometimes sit down and watch a Shadiversity or Dude Perfect or Hermitcraft with one of them just to see what they’re into.

(And it is a learning experience for me as well. I mean, who knew whole cities could be built on Minecraft?)

Closing Thoughts

These ideas are, of course, just a start.

And while I would have added something about reading together as a family, I’ve already posted about that a few times recently (and will probably post more about it again soon).

In any case, it’s sometimes easier to start off the new year when you haven’t made a huge number of goals and resolutions.

Even just setting one or two specific and concrete goals can make all the difference in healthy living as a family in the new year.

Oh, and happy New Year to you!

May it be a blessed one.