Wes: It’s time once again for the Double Take New Year’s resolution column — our guide to what teens and parents might want to consider when deciding what to focus on in the coming year.

Double Take columnists Gabe Magee and Dr. Wes Crenshaw

Yes, we know resolutions are cheesy, but there are worse things than aspiring to try something new or turn over a proverbial new leaf. So, let’s suspend any lingering disbelief in ourselves and set some goals.

This year, just to shake things up, Gabe will suggest his top three resolutions for parents and I’ll offer mine for teens.

• Resolve to get political. In case you hadn’t noticed, 2016 is a major election year. This fall, young people on college campuses all across the country took up causes of social justice and turned out in droves for favored political candidates. Hopefully that spirit of engagement continues through Election Day. The 18-to-21 crowd is a huge voting block and even under-18s have enormous economic power and social energy. This year, make your voice heard or else you may end up with a whole list of voices in Topeka and Washington that you don’t agree with very much. It’s your future. Now might be the time to invest in it.
• Differentiate. We used to have this thing we called “peer pressure,” meaning that other teens used social influence to get you to do bad stuff. We’re mostly over that notion, recognizing how much more complex social interplay is than that old term can allow. However, teen culture is so powerful that it influences every aspect of the larger society and just about everyone in it. This year, resolve to think outside the culture box to become who you are, rather than sliding easily into whatever someone else expects or demands that you be.
• Find balance. We’ve stressed out teens far too much in our world with too much advanced curriculum, too much time working and far too many hours connected to screens. This year, resolve to balance all that harried lifestyle with some exercise, meditation, and above all, sleep. If you do nothing else this year for your mental health, get eight to 10 hours of sleep each night.

Gabe: Here are my nominations for best resolutions parents might consider in 2016:

• Trust your instincts. This really isn’t limited to parenting, but it’s very important within it. Common sense and gut feelings can point you in a good direction when making parenting decisions. It’s natural to experience self-doubt in parenting (or so I’ve heard), and that’s where you can speak up and ask for advice. Once you’ve made a good decision, trust your judgment and stand by it.
• Communicate. A lot of the problems that have come to Dr. Wes and me this year could have been made better sooner and with less pain if someone had said simply what they thought or believed. This year, parents should strive to make sure their children understand what expectations you set, so that they can follow them. That’s a two-way street, of course. Parents should not only listen to input from their children, but ask for it. Nobody is really an expert in parenting, so any new perspective helps.
• Focus on the positive. You would be in the rare minority if you claimed that little negative happens to families. Just looking over what’s come across my desk since I’ve started this column can be daunting. Sometimes this negativity can be caused by your children, which makes it all the more important to help them grow up in a “net-positive” environment. If things look bleak, try to find a glimmer to latch on to. If things are great, enjoy it. Where and how kids grow up will ultimately make them who they are.

— Wes Crenshaw, Ph.D., ABPP, is author of “I Always Want to Be Where I’m Not: Successful Living with ADD & ADHD.” Learn about his writing and practice at dr-wes.com. Gabe Magee is a Bishop Seabury Academy senior. Send your confidential 200-word question to ask@dr-wes.com. Double Take opinions and advice are not a substitute for psychological services.