New Year’s Day

Happy New Year! Here’s to a better 2021! In the past month, many of my former colleagues including my husband, received the COVID-19 vaccine. Honestly I can’t wait for it to be my turn. There are plans here of the kids returning to in-person schooling soon. They are excited as they miss their peers. 2021 has got to be better right?!

Today we are starting off the new year with a clean slate. I made the kids some new reward charts for positive behavior modification or as I like to refer to it… goal-oriented bribery. This is free to download below.

This file is best printed out and laminated. I then cut out the stars, and attach adhesive velcro dots to everything. Through the years, I have found that being positive with your child is a million times better than yelling, scolding, or spanking them. I have also found that the best reward chart is one that is simple, is not too hard to achieve (thus only 10 not 30 stars), and is one where some of the decision making is given to your child. They get to pick their prize and we decide together what constitutes a star. In our house, that is cleaning up their room and brushing their teeth, making a good effort eating meals without leaving their chair, completing morning study or afternoon study work, and helping mom. My toddler also earns one every time she uses the potty.

Personalized ones are available in my shop here.

I also created a 2021 printable writing activity for kids, a free 2021 coloring sheet, as well as New Year’s cupcake toppers for the kids to color and help decorate. These are all free to download below.

My son wrote about how he hoped to start swimming again, play baseball, go to school in person, and take a trip to Disneyland. Out of all my kids, he probably took this quarantine the hardest as he has so much energy and is very social. My husband and I have also tried to stress a low-tech upbringing so zoom school has been hard and being home all the time with three sisters a challenge. All things considered, he has taken it in good strides and I am happy to see that he remains very positive and hopeful.

We printed multiple copies of the coloring sheet to help decorate for the new year. I also made black crowns out of large strips of black poster board and the kids used pom poms and cut out the numbers and shapes from this coloring sheet to help decorate their crowns. We also made cupcakes and used this following printable to color, cut out, and create toppers to help celebrate.

These toppers don’t have to be limited to cupcakes. I often use cupcake toppers to decorate water bottles, utensil wraps, and party favors as well.

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Wishing everyone a bright, healthy, and happy 2021!