Effective Goal Setting With Your Kids

Goal setting has proven to be a great practice to stay focused and aligned, but have you ever thought of doing it with your kids?

Teaching your children how to goal set can not only be a fun activity but also an amazing life lesson. Through goal setting they can learn:

• How to take responsibility for their own behaviors and learning

• It will promote a positive “can-do” attitude

• Hard work and the benefits of applying themselves

To start goal setting with your kids follow these 3 easy steps:

1. Let your child choose their own “big goal”

By letting your child choose their own goal they are much more likely to be excited and motivated to reach it. You want to empower them to take ownership of their responsibilities and actions. Make sure it is a SMART goal; specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, trackable. This way you will be able to very clearly recognize them when they make progress and when they finally achieve their goal.

You can help by prompting them with questions like:

What’s one thing you wish you could do?

What would you try to do if you knew you couldn’t fail?

What’s something you wish you could accomplish?

2. Talk with your child about the purpose and why they chose that goal

With all goals, there will be tough days. It’s during these tough days that the “why” will help them persevere through. If your child wants to do get an A in a class, know their why will help keep them motivated.

Taking this a step further if you can find an additional “why” that is helping or impacting someone else, this will help the goal be even stronger. For example, if your child wants to make the hockey team because they want to be a professional hockey player and one-day coach other kids”, this “why” transcends more than themselves.

3. Break the Big Goal down into smaller steps

By having one big goal, your child can feel overwhelmed or discouraged by trying to tackle something all at once. By breaking the goal down into smaller easier to obtain steps, the small wins will help them recognize their progress and stay motivated.

For example, if your child wants better grades you can have a smaller goal of having their homework done every week. It also helps to visually track these small steps, along with the big goal.

Try creating a chart or use one of our Goal Setting Boards! Hang up all of your child’s smaller goals while also keeping the main big goal in sight. This will help keep everyone motivated and will also help in recognizing your child’s hard work.

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