As 2018 commences, most parents are naturally seeking to improve over the previous year. Reflections on the past often reveal successes and failures. That is normal. That is the human condition. And, if you have been parenting long enough, you know that often success is mostly incremental, not monumental. Overnight monumental success takes years (think about that statement). It requires steadfastness and longsuffering.

So as parents look down the road into 2018 with the natural resolution mindset that comes at this time of year, questions that often arise are: “What can I do differently? What am I missing? How can I connect better with my kids?” The answers to these questions are often quite simple.

Recently a father was digitizing some old VHS family videos (that will tell you how old they were) and uploading them in segments onto YouTube. His goal was to preserve the images for his grandkids and beyond. As he watched these videos, some with his now adult children, he discovered something. He saw normal, everyday life being played out, some captured in humorous moments and other more poignant moments showing personal idiosyncrasies that were not so obvious at the time. Strung together, he realized that it took years of being in his kids’ lives in an engaged way that maintained the good and healthy relationship that he has with them today.

So what can parents do to create and string those moments together? An answer to that can be found in this article entitled “50 Guilt-Free Resolutions” (http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/holidays/new-years/50-guilt-free-resolutions). We believe that within this list you will find the fodder to create those moments and, eventually, the “overnight monumental success” that will show itself years from now.