Goal Setting for Kids

Goals Must be Believable

Many of us need to gradually build up confidence when goal setting. If the first goal we set ourselves is too ambitious, we have difficulty believing that we can achieve it. So don't try to build Rome in a day, and don't encourage your child to set goals that are too demanding initially.

My little friend Charlene, working towards her goal of getting better at math, understood this principle immediately. She had chosen to measure her progress by the number of "red circles" (wrong answers) that she got on her math worksheets.

"I would like to have no red circles at all,” said Charlene. "But I don't think I can do that."

Instead, Charlene planned to reduce the occurrence of red circles by 25% over three weeks.

Happy goalsetting with your kids,

Cassie