New Years Resolution: 2025!

It’s not just individuals who make and break resolutions each new year… Priority Kids has organizational resolutions that we have made and broken annually since 2020.

We’re all in it together.

At the end of 2019, back when my parenting obligations were reduced (on account of kids being in school) and more time was available for me to choose my own adventure, and I was (personally) debt-free… I looked at my situation and decided that it was time to meaningfully and fully invest in protecting children from sexual abuse; something I had been advocating for, on the side, since 2010.

I took valuable coaching opportunities and did some introspection. I came to some important conclusions:

1.       I could create an organization dedicated to protecting children without financially harming myself or my family

and

2.       I was not going to waste my time chasing government funding.

Well, it’s 2025 and I have just managed to crawl back onto the shores of debt-free existence. So… I broke that resolution! But I’m currently back in the black with a vision to stay here.

And, 2024 marked another year where I invested significant time and energy chasing government funding, none of which has materialized and none of those efforts have led to children being protected.

So… I have some bad habits that need breaking!

One of the biggest challenges that I have when it comes to walking away from shiny funding opportunities that tempt me into grant writing and collaborative meetings, is that I really like persuasive writing and advocacy.

So, when I saw an ad on LinkedIn in 2024 asking for project proposals that offer creative solutions to childhood obesity… I couldn’t resist the temptation.

I read the funding guidelines and I KNEW that they would not be interested in a project that prevents childhood sexual abuse as a means to prevent childhood obesity.

But I ALSO know that protecting children from sexual abuse DOES protect children from obesity.

I read the requirements more closely and I KNEW that they wanted projects like, a community garden, or a soup kitchen, or cooking classes, or a community fitness program.

But I ALSO know that protecting children from sexual abuse is a more creative solution than those obvious responses (which of course are valid and helpful, but they don’t address the root cause of childhood obesity, IMO).

As I began putting together my proposal I KNEW it would not be successful.

But I couldn’t stop myself.

After a week of writing, editing, linking, formatting, proof reading and re- reading, I thought,

‘Damn. It’s a shame they won’t accept this proposal’

Because, in my opinion, it’s a pretty good idea with some pretty solid evidence supporting it.

Despite my absolute confidence that I would not be successful, I still thought it was disappointing that the organization would send a rejection email to confirm that I had not been successful at 3:00 pm on the Friday before Christmas.

Gross.

Sorry to everyone else who also got rejected for Christmas.

So, It’s a new year, and so far I have only spent one working day, plus a bunch of hours, thinking about how to send a good-bye email to a group of government employees who are working to address gender based violence in Nova Scotia.

It’s so tempting to stay in this group to advocate for protecting children and to encourage decision makers to prioritize child safety. But I have to go.

Sure, I can persuade myself that protecting children from sexual abuse is ending gender-based violence because child sexual abuse IS gender based violence, and it’s a root cause of intimate partner violence and blah blah blah… the facts exist and I already believe them, and probably you do also.

What I have to accept is that while I can persuade myself, I actually can not persuade other people.

That is the root of my bad business habits. My job is not to persuade people.

My job is to bring training to people who want to protect children.

That is as simple a statement today as it was in 2019. Sometimes the simplest things are the hardest.

Thanks for being part of my motivational self-talk! Please feel free to throw any of these words back at me if you sense I’m going off the rails (again) this year.

In the meantime, please take a moment to have a look at my unsuccessful project idea from 2024.

Like I said, I liked it a lot and thought it was convincing 😊

This year, I’m (still) committed to stop convincing, and instead focus on finding the people who want to protect children.

If you know who they are, please feel free to help connect me with them. Because we can make a lot of positive things happen when people who want to protect children learn how to keep them safe from sexual abuse.

Bring it on 2025!