Parenting
Setting G als Whether it’s a cleaner room, less screen time, or making the sports team, kids grow from setting and meeting age-appropriate goals.
Helping your child set goals - and making a strategic plan to achieve them - teaches your child an important life skill. Having a goal establishes purpose, triggers new behaviours, helps with decision making, and teaches the value of perseverance. Follow these steps to success!
Choose your goal There are lots of different goals your child could set. Maybe the goal is grade based, like moving from a C to a B in a particular subject, or habit-based, like keeping a tidy room or reading a set number of books within a particular time period. Your child might not even be aware that they have a goal, so be alert to possibilities. You might hear them say “I wish I could juggle” – there’s their goal! Whatever your child wants to achieve, make sure their goal is SMART. This means having a clear target that is easy to quantify. For example, instead of saying “I want to get better grades”, say “I want to improve my grades by at least one letter in this subject”. Improving by one letter is far more attainable and realistic than aiming to go from a D to an A, and you can track the time by saying “by the end of next semester”.
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Make a plan Identify what your child wants to achieve. If their goal is BIG, break it down into smaller stepping stones so that it doesn’t become overwhelming. Each step completed towards their goal will boost your child’s confidence and spur them on. If your child has set a goal that you know might be challenging and take time, point out the challenges first so that your child has a realistic expectation of what will be required of them. Discuss possible obstacles so that your child recognises them and work out a plan to overcome them if they arise. Set a start date and a proposed end date to help them keep focussed. Small goals like saving for a new toy or game could be achieved in a few weeks. Bigger goals, like being picked for the representative sports team, could take a year or two to reach. Write the goal and its steps down. You can make each stage deadline specific (but allow the deadlines to be flexible) and tick each achievement off as they go. Younger children might benefit form a visual “goal ladder” stuck on the fridge. Older children might prefer to make a mind map or vision board.
Now consider the three Ws: who, what, when. Who can they ask for help with their goal, what can they do themselves, and when will they allocate time? The “who” could be a teacher, family member, coach, or even YouTube vlogger who has skills they could share. “What” is the practice and work your child will put in, and “when” is the time of day or week that your child has set aside to work on their goal.
Remember, a goal without a plan is just a wish!
Your Local Families Magazine June / July 2022 www.familiesmagazine.com.au
