I love the end of a year because it allows me to reflect on all that I’ve learned. I happily replay all of the good moments that I was grateful to experience. As painful or frustrating as they may have been, I also replay those not-so-pleasant moments. You know, the times when my child embarrassed me at the grocery store or when I was caught falling asleep during a meeting. I can laugh about them now but these moments made up the year. They made up...me.

Here I am raising a tiny human but I also feel heavily invested in raising myself. They call people like me “grownups,” but you are never truly done growing, are you? This is why I am committing myself to parenting resolutions for 2016. This is HUGE for me because I’m one of those people who do great at resolutions for the first few months but then head to Slackerville sometime in mid-February. These resolutions are really important and my children depend on me to reach said resolutions. I can tackle them pretty easily, right?

Be A More Patient Mama
I’ll admit it, I’ve never been a patient person. Instead of rushing my daughter to school and getting annoyed that she always has to stop to pick up leaves or rocks, I’ll take a deep breath and help her look for a leaf or rock. Sure, I may be running a few minutes behind schedule, but helping her explore lets her know that I care. Also, when my girl takes ten years to finish a story, I vow to wait patiently instead of hurrying her along.

Be An In The Moment Mom
Millennials, I tell you. We love staying connected. This isn’t a bad thing, but when you’re so busy trying to capture moments that you forget to be IN the moments, it could present a problem. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked my daughter to pose or smile for a picture instead of enjoying experiences with her. I don’t even notice when I do it. I vow to be more aware of when this happens and if I don’t get a cute picture for Instagram, so what. I will forever have the memory etched in my head and that’s all that matters.

Get Dirty!
Being a neat freak has its benefits, but it can be absolutely limiting when you’ve got kids. Clay? Eek! Paint? Noooo! Mud? Never! Life is short and some of the best activities aren’t always the ones that are super neat and clean. I vow to get my hands dirty, a bit. Fill the bathroom up with bubbles? Let’s go for it! Do rainbow finger painting? Why not! Cleaning up a mess won’t take much time but spending time enjoying creating those messes? Well, that’s priceless. If nothing else, I know JOHNSON’S® will have my back in the cleanup kid department.

Brittany Minor is a contributor for JOHNSON’S®, the sponsor of this community, and compensated for travel and attendance at events. Every idea and word written is her own.