Setting Goals with Kids 

Last week we sat our kids down and began setting goals. One of my favorite things about a new year is setting new goals. I love setting goals for myself, for Jase and me, for our family, and for our businesses. We have always encouraged our children to be self-starters and setting goals for themselves is an important part of this.

These goals can be educational, spiritual, social, or health. Here’s how we help our kids set goals for the new year.

1. Gather and share inspirational quotes

This is an activity we like to do as a family. So we all gather together and I share some inspirational quotes with them. This helps them to become motivated to set their own goals and to see the benefits of setting goals for themselves.

2. Reflect on Previous Year

We give our kids a chance to reflect on the previous year and think about the challenges they faced as well as things they achieved. They can be big things or little things. The idea is to get them thinking about things that happened in the previous year and then work on being better or building upon their successes.

3. Choose a focus word or phrase

After they’ve reflected on the past year, have them choose a word of focus that will become their focus this year. This will be the mantra that they focus on throughout the year. Some of our words and phrases included: “Serve”, “Be Kind”, and “Be there for others”.

4. Create a Vision Board

This is the fun part. Gather a bunch of old magazines and have your kids create vision boards for their new year goals. We include our mantra or focus word or phrase for the year on this board as well as some inspirational quotes and pictures to remind us of what we want to do this year.

5. Hang it where you can see it

After they’ve created a vision board the next step is to hang it somewhere they will see it every day. This can be on their walls, on the bathroom mirrors, next to their beds, next to their light switches…anywhere really. The idea is that they see it every day so they can have a constant reminder of the goals they set for themselves.

6. Evaluate

To make sure that we don’t set goals and then fall off the wagon after a few weeks or months, we encourage our kids to check in with their goals a few times throughout the year. Jase and I do this ourselves and have found that it helps us to stay on track as well as to make any necessary adjustments.

I hope these tips are helpful as you help your own children set goals. If you want to read more about setting goals here are some of my favorite resources.

• The Self-driven child by William Stixrud and Ned Johnson
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey
• The 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey
• Goal Setting Family Home Evening Lesson

Setting goals has been an important part of our lives and we hope to instill good goal-setting practices in our kids as they grow up. Tell me in the comments below how you help your kids set and keep their goals.

-Rach