Fun New Year's Resolution Activities for Teenage Boys

New Year's resolutions can help teenage boys stay focused and motivated.

People create New Year's resolutions in order to focus themselves on positive goals they hope to achieve during the year. For teenage boys, who are experiencing so many physical, mental and emotional changes, these resolutions can be a way to energize and encourage them to improve themselves for the new year. You can help the teenage boy in your life formulate and keep his resolutions using a creative activity.

Weight Loss Challenge

If your teenager is struggling with his weight, you can turn his weight-loss resolution to an engaging challenge. Ask your teenager to establish a target weight or target number of pounds to lose. Then, challenge him to lose a certain number of pounds each month through intramural sports, swimming, hiking and other forms of outdoor recreation. To give him even more of an incentive, you can reward him for achieving his monthly goal with cash or other gifts.

Academic Fantasy League

For an academic New Year's resolution activity, create an academic fantasy league for your teenager. Find out what classes he will be taking and then ask him to honestly guess what grade he expects to earn in each class. Create a chart showing the class, his grade expectation, the highest grade possible -- which is A or 100 -- and several boxes for the actual outcome. Challenge your teenager to exceed his own expectations in each course and use the chart to mark his progress. You may even want to include a reward for each class in which he meets or exceed his own grade predictions.

Twelve Steps to Awesomeness

The next activity will challenge your teenager to accomplish something new each month for an entire year. Have the young man think of 12 things that he can achieve, one for each month. The goals can be anything from learn 10 new words in one month to running a 5-mile race. For the resolution, he must show proof that he actually accomplished the goal by either demonstrating it or providing some physical evidence. Purchase a calendar for him so that he can keep track of his progress.

Be Your Hero Activity

For this activity, your teenager will imitate the actions of a positive role model that he admires. Tell him to pick someone whom he admires and develop at least three resolutions for the year related to that person. For example, say your teenager admires Abraham Lincoln. To be more like Lincoln for the year, he could resolve to become a better public speaker, take on a leadership position and be more understanding of others.

References

• "New Year's Resolutions That Stick; How to make Life-changing Resolutions That Work For You Every Single Year!"; Don Staley; 2011
• "What Your Son Isn't Telling You: Unlocking the Secret World of Teen Boys"; Michael Ross and Susie Shellenberger; 2010
• "Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men"; Leonard Sax; 2009