Helping Your Child Set and Achieve Goals

As adults we are constantly setting goals for ourselves – whether they have to do with what we need to get done for the day or week for our family or what we need to accomplish to reach a certain milestone in our lives. Setting goals is an important part of leading successful lives and this is something we need to share and instill in our children. We all want our children to have a leg up in life and to get ahead and teaching them to set and achieve goals is a certain way to provide them with that leg up.

As parents we must prepare our children, even at an early age, to be successful adults who contribute positively to society. In order to do so, there are five fundamental skills we must equip our children with. You don’t have to be an expert, let them learn from mistakes you’ve made in your own life along the way.

1

      .      Managing their personal finances - Nothing leads to stress and unhappiness quicker than financial problems. Teaching our children the value of money and how it is directly related to a happy and successful life.

2    .      Health – Personal health is another important aspect to leading a happy and fulfilling life. Teach your children to set and achieve goals directly related to their health and fitness.

3    .      Managing themselves – Staying motivated, having a positive attitude and mindset and taking control of their own future.

4   .      Getting along/Working with others – it’s impossible to go through life and not interact with others on some level. Working with your children at a young age to work well with others will contribute to making them more well-rounded adults. 

1   .      Getting and Staying Organized – Start with the toys in the playroom and build on that foundation of the importance of being organized and your child will carry this important life skill into adulthood.

Setting goals and achieving them requires setting goals in all of the areas above. Finally, your child is never too young to start working on these areas. Starting young will deeply instill these qualities into your child and help them to be successful adults.