Today I am excited to introduce you to Kelly Biedny, my guest blogger from 2 Kids Cooking and More. Kelly is going to talk today on the importance of teaching kids to goal set. I love what she has to offer here with practical thoughts and ideas to help kids learn to set achievable goals, measure their success and adjust as needed. Here’s Kelly:
Most of the time people leave their goal-setting for January and the New Year. The thing is, if you wait ‘til then you won’t have a plan in place to start out full-steam ahead. Plus, November is the perfect time to reflect on the year that is almost behind us, giving thanks for what we accomplished and learned. This is true not only for adults, but for kids as well.
Sometimes people think I’m a bit crazy for having my kids set ‘goals’–kids are just supposed to relax and have fun, right? Well, to me, all goals are really, are a list of things you’d like to accomplish in the next year, along with action steps to help you accomplish these goals. Essentially goals are a list of the fun things you want to do and things you most want to do–rather than things you think you should do–have a much higher chance of getting accomplished.
Brainstorm
To start our process, we usually work together to make a list of family & personal goals first, looking at last years list and some of the ‘long term’ items we haven’t done yet. Then we brainstorm things we want to do, things we want to do more of and things we want to learn. There are no boundaries on the brainstorming, anything, any place, any cost.
Prioritize
Once we’ve got a complete list, we prioritize and real-itize. The fact is there are just somethings we will not be able to do and some things we will not be able to afford. For personal vs. family, the kids really need to decide the focus of their goals. My 10 year old daughter has things like, ‘get better at baking’, on her list, because she wants to own a bakery someday. My 14 year old son wants to rebuild the old generator we bought at a garage sale because he wants to be an engineer.
Actionize
The next step is adding action steps for each of the goals. For family goals, we do a general plan of when we’ll do these things and then I do more formal planning later. For the kids, some of their goals can be planned on a calendar, like taking a class or going to an event. Some of them, though, are things that they need to want to work on, like my daughter’s baking and my son’s engine project.
Every time your child is able to cross-off one of those goals, they’ll realize their accomplishment and be so excited. But, not all of their goals get done, either because of lack of time, interest or priority; that happens to some of my goals, too. Guess what, that’s fine! People can change their minds and priorities. I’m just glad my kids are working toward something they care about and learning how the process works–Set the goals, plan the work, work the plan!
So, as you give thanks this holiday season, remember to start planning on what you and your kids want to be thankful for next year–start brainstorming those goals!
Author Bio –
Kelly Biedny is the co-owner of Two Kids Cooking & More, a blog and online store where she and her two kids inspire families to create, have fun and connect. For more ideas from Kelly, Alex and Sophia, visit them at https://www.twokidscooking.com/goals
