Teaching Our Children About Goals

Teaching our children about goals.

It prompted me to reflect on how I set my goals and what I do (or don’t do) to help me achieve them. And what I do (or don’t do) that contributes to those times when I fail to follow through?

As a parent, this question takes on a new level of meaning for me… Obviously, we want our children to succeed at everything they do. So, how do we channel their abilities and guide them towards setting realistic goals that they will follow through on? According to Forbes.com, 92% of people fail to achievetheir New Year’s Resolutions. I wouldn’t want my children to fall into that category – if it can be helped, of course.

So let’s look at how we can help our children set realistic goals.

Acting as a guide

We need to realise that we are only there to help guide our children in setting the goals they want to achieve. It should be our child’s goal, not ours. We shouldn’t push/demand or nag the child. This is their goal to achieve. We should see ourselves as assistant coaches or cheerleaders.

Determine the goal

Guiding our child to finding a goal that is both achievable and suitable to his/her personality/likes/dislikes/age/etc. will make achieving the goal more likely. Helping them figure out the steps needed to reach their goal and a suitable timeframe is part of goal setting.

Set deadlines

Our children must have realistic deadlines when setting goals. Breaking it all down into smaller goals (within the larger dream), with realistic expectations for when those smaller goals should be achieved, will be more sustainable than simply having one deadline (looming intimidatingly large on the horizon) and creating a calendar that our child can follow and mark off once these small deadlines are reached createss a visual “map” of achievement, which encourages overall achievement.

Encouragement

As adults, we know all too well how hard it can be to reach our goals. We need to offer praise when goals are reached, and encouragement to stay committed when our children become despondent.

Make it Fun

No one likes to participate in something that has no enjoyment. Children especially need fun-filled activities to keep them interested and engaged.

Review & Reflect

Once the goal has been reached, itwon’tt hurt to sit down and reflect on the positive and negative aspects of the road to reaching it. One can also consider how to approach future goals.

Goal setting can be fun and easy for children of any age, whetherit’ss a three-year-old needing to clean their room, homework to be completed, or an older child dealing with a school project or a sports commitment.

Here’s hoping our children learn to set and achieve goals!