What do your kids want to accomplish? Do they want to improve their grades? Be in the school play? Join the soccer team?
Setting goals is an important step in helping your kids plan for a great future. By setting and accomplishing their goals, kids learn responsibility, time management, and perseverance.
Many people set goals for themselves at the beginning of the year in the form of New Year’s resolutions, but most resolution-makers give up before the end of the year and don’t achieve their goals.
According to research from the University of Scranton, 15% of people who make New Year’s resolutions give up on their goal after one week, and 54% give up after 6 months. This means less than half of all people who make resolutions are successful at keeping them.
To help set your kids up for success, we put together 3 steps you can take to help them achieve their goals:
Help your kids choose the right goals
Many people use SMART to develop effective goals. SMART goals are:
- Specific – Help your kids set goals that are clear and well-defined. Goals that are too vague will be difficult to work toward.
- Measurable – Make sure you can measure your kids’ goals because that will allow both you and them to see whether they’ve made progress. For example, it’s hard to determine whether your child has reached the goal of “getting better at math,” but if their goal is “get an A in math class,” you can see how close they are to achieving that.
- Attainable – Make sure your kids can attain their goals. By setting unrealistic goals for themselves, they may lose confidence when they can’t achieve them. If your kids have big dreams they want to work toward, help them come up with smaller goals that will be stepping stones toward the larger goal.
- Relevant – Help your kids develop goals that matter to them and make sense for their lives. If your kids feel like their goals aren’t relevant, they may not be motivated to achieve them.
- Time-Bound – Think about goals that have deadlines. Goals that are not time-bound will be easy for your kids to lose focus on and forget about. Deadlines also help you and your kids determine whether they have successfully achieved their goals.
After your kids have decided what their goals are, have them write the goals down. Written goals are clearly defined, and the act of writing will help your kids remember them. Research from Dominic University shows that people who write their goals down are more likely to achieve them.
Guide your kids in making a plan
Help your kids determine what they will need to do to be successful. Goals can be overwhelming, especially if your kids don’t even know where to start, so guide them in making a plan with manageable steps.
Plans should be specific and actionable. If your child’s goal is to get an A in math, then they should plan to complete their homework assignments, study for tests, and participate in class. If their goal is to join the soccer team, they should practice their passing, shooting, and dribbling skills, learn the basic rules of soccer, and attend soccer tryouts.
You may also want to brainstorm what your kids can do if they encounter obstacles or setbacks. Trying to achieve a goal isn’t always easy, but we’re all capable of doing difficult things. After coming up with some potential challenges your kids may face, think about they can do to overcome them!
Give your kids support
Check in with your kids and see whether they’re making progress toward their goals. Recognize their effort, and applaud their achievements!
If your kids are having a difficult time making progress, maybe you can help them figure out what they can do differently. You can also let them know that challenges are normal, and sometimes achieving a goal can take longer than we thought. If they need to, they can take a break and re-evaluate the situation.
Sometimes, kids fail to achieve their goals. For example, they might fail their math test even if they studied for it. Acknowledge how hard your kids worked, and let them know that the most important thing is just for them to try their best.
Setting and working toward a goal teaches kids lifelong skills that set them up for success. Make sure you and your kids celebrate the wins and remember that obstacles are part of the journey!
