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Goal Setting With Your Children
By teaching your children to set goals, you’ll help them grow into the people they want to be. Start with goals that relate directly to home or school. For instance, “I will be able to do my chores without being reminded” or “I will remember to write down what my homework is every day.” Guide your children as they set goals, and then help them reach them.
There are three kinds of goals you can focus on—for yourself and for your children:
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Academic goals pertain to their schooling. In what subject(s) can your children improve? Are they starting something new such as a foreign language or calculus or drama? An academic goal is “I want to master my times tables” or “I want to be able to memorize my geometry theorems.”
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Process goals focus on how you do something. For example, “I want to finish my homework in a timely manner” or “I want to do my math neatly.” Think of adverbs (or words ending in -ly) to describe how you do something.
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Character goals describe the attitude with which we approach our work. For example, “I want to persevere through my math even when it’s difficult” or “I want to stop complaining about my English teacher.” Without a good attitude, you may not please a teacher or employer with your performance even if you did your job perfectly.
Begin by setting goals for yourself in these three areas. What do you want to learn more about? How can you improve the way you do your work? What character or spiritual issues need to be addressed in your life?
Then begin the same goal-setting process with your children.—Vicki Caruana
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