“Teaching Your Child to Set and Achieve Goals”

Teaching Your Child to Set and Achieve Goals

Every parent wants their child to be a successful, self-motivated individual. One of the most important traits for achieving this is teaching them how to set and achieve goals. It is an invaluable life skill that helps develop self-efficacy, resilience and the ability to think critically. As a parent, here are some of the key elements for helping your child succeed:

1. Educate and Inspire

It is important to instill the importance of setting and achieving goals from an early age. Talk to them about grand successes throughout history, which may include anything from explorations to sports. Help them understand the importance of thinking strategically, staying motivated and overcoming adversities.

2. Encourage Effort

Research shows that praising successes based on effort (such as “you worked hard” or “you kept trying”) instead of intelligence or talent has a much larger, positive effect on children. When your child makes an effort, they will be more likely to push themselves further and will be able to persevere through failure.

3. Start Small and Celebrate Every Success

Helping your child set and reach small goals, such as reading a book or making their bed, is a great place to begin. Celebrate both big and small successes along the way to reinforce the process.

4. Lead by Example

Nothing speaks louder than your own action. Demonstrate the importance of focusing on and working towards goals in your own life. Show them that the effort, accountability and resilience that you display are part of the essential process for achieving goals.

5. Support, Don’t Push

Help your child stay focused, motivated and organized. Allow for some leeway and healthy boundaries, but remember to always remain supportive and inspiring.

Setting and achieving goals is a powerful tool that your child can learn from an early age to help them reach their full potential. Every success, no matter how small, can help set the foundation for this life skill and will make all the difference.