3 Ideas to Involve Your Kids in Family New Year’s Goals

Well, it’s already Feburary and the joke is; fitness clubs start their attendance decline after an awesome January. Even though we experience the ups and downs of sticking to our goals it is still better to set goals than not to set goals. 

So how about your Precious Treasures? Are you helping your kids in setting their goals? 

We think we have 3 great tips to help you start your kids setting goals early. The theory here is that they will be better at executing their goals as they get older because you helped them establish the practice at an early age. While we don't want to put 100lb bags of pressure on them at an early age, we still think it’s healthy for them to build the habit. 

1) Reflection. Examine opportunities to better oneself. 
Sounds too deep for kids. It is, but that’s why you are reading this and not them : ) 

Just like you would reflect on your last year’s budget and explore crevices, to carve out some space for the next family vacation, our kids can apply this same tactic to their goal setting. Mostly this is done by asking questions. Is there something I can help my child see that they need to improve on? And we are not talking about a goal like, "Doing better in school." Just like in your goal setting, that’s too broad and lofty. It could be things like becoming a better reader or working on how to clean up after themselves. This may help us get to that broad and lofty goal - but just as you do with a toddler's food, you break it up in small chunks so they can chew it.

2) Kids do what parents do. 

There is no way around this, believe it or not, we have the biggest influence on our kids, more than anyone else. They are like our little mirrors running around showing us what we are like. 

No pressure. 

Half the battle with setting goals is just that – actually setting them. The rest is creating small actionable items that, like breadcrumbs, lead you to your goal. As you set your personal and family goals, involve your kids. Help them see how your goals fit into your everyday life and be honest with them about how you are achieving your goals. Although our Treasures may not have mortgages to pay or budgets to put in order, goal setting can be custom-fit into their lives, by making it fun and applicable to their individuality. 

3) Again, make it fun. 

This is a no-stress-goal-setting zone. Many times when we as adults set goals we create these messy and hairy-audacious goals that encourage us to bite off more than we can chew. Kids will fall out of love with this faster than you can say "Dora" if we don't make this whole goal setting thing fun for them. The best thing to do is reward children when they achieve their goals and encourage them when they don't do so good. The sweeter the reward, I am betting the more they will be chomping at the bit to accomplish their goals, thus more clean rooms and completed homework. We can dream, right?

If we help our kids set goals, who says they can't achieve them?