Do you talk to your littles about making a New Years Resolution? Have you ever helped them make a New Years Resolution? Did they succeed with their New Years Resolution? New Years resolutions are so hard to keep. We just talk about something we want to do better at and start off strong and then FAILURE! Instead of a resolution this year, help your child set 2 goals they want to succeed at this year and set 2 for yourself. Follow these steps and work together to reach the goals you have set for yourselves and teach your littles how to achieve their goals.
After the excitement and activities of Christmas have ended, talk with your child about the new year that is coming. Share with them how the new year is a time for new beginnings. It is a time to think of things you want to do or learn to make the year memorable. Have your little come up with a learning goal and a personal goal, help them brainstorm the many different things they could learn or do better at and then allow them to pick 2, one from each category. This would be a great time to revisit and evaluate their goals from the beginning of the school year as well and add to or change them if they have met those goals. Here are some steps to help with setting and achieving your New Years Goals:
Brainstorm: Make a 2 column chart title one column education or school and the other column personal. Then help your child think of all the things they could improve at educationally and personal. (Sample Educational Goals: reading, read 20 minutes every night, learning lowercase letters, learn letter sounds, addition facts, math facts, numbers 10-20, learn shapes, colors, etc..) (Sample Personal Goals: clean up room everyday, make bed everyday, follow directions with 1 or fewer prompts, help make dinner, share toys with sibling, be kind to others, make friends with someone new, etc…)- Select: Before selecting they select the goals discuss what each goal means, and how they will achieve it. Remember pick just one educational and one personal. Let it be their choice, they need to be willing to work on achieving the goal. Of course you can make the one you want look appealing to them so they will choose it. Remember you may need to help get things rolling so they have a model for being successful (cleaning room: you may have to help them get their things organized so they have a model, maybe take pictures of what it should look like and post them in the room to start.)
- Manageable Steps: Once they have selected their two goals, break it down into manageable steps. What do they need to do to be successful? Write out small manageable steps they can check off as they achieve them. For example, learning letters: break it down into learning two or three letters each week (week 1: learn Bb, Mm; week 2 learn Rr, Ss; week 3: learn Dd, Ff, etc… or Week 1: plus 1 addition facts; Week 2: plus 2 addition facts; Week 3: practice plus 1 and plus 2 addition facts, etc…)
- Revisit and Revise: When the year begins you may want to just ask each day how are you doing with…? Then sit down with them once a week and read the goal and look at the steps they need to complete for that week and talk about it then check it off if they met the goal. If they didn’t meet that step in the goal, ask them what happened, what do you need to meet this step? How can I help you? Then revise the steps and give them their new mini goal to reach. Don’t yell or put them down. This is a time to teach them how sometimes we need to make the steps smaller, but they can still achieve the goal. If they mastered the step with ease look at the next step and talk about making the step a little tougher or maybe they need to just keep having easy success. Don’t make it two difficult, we are looking for success, but we also want them to work for the success. As the year rolls along you may not need to discuss the goals every week, maybe every other week. You know your child, take cues from them.
- Evaluate: Always evaluate how the steps are helping your little progress towards their goal. Do this a few times a year and always evaluate how they did at the end of the year. If you follow the steps above, your child should be successful in the in learning to make and achieve their goals.
Books
Here are some books to read to help your child look forward to and help them complete their goals.
Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution by Pat Miller
Lazy Ninja by Mary Nhin
Achieve Anything by Josh Bryant
The Sky is the Limit by Kimberly Ichter Eldredge
How to Win the World Cup in Pajamas by Kobe Nhin
Max’s Football Dream by Richard Ludka
Share your favorite books about goal setting for children in the comments.
22 Comments
Sydney Delong
I love this! I will have to do this when my son is old enough to understand.
Lucinda
It’s always a great time to think about goals and change. Involving your children in creating their own goals gives them ownership and means they’ll be more excited to follow through. Thanks for your tips.
Barb
You always need buy in and ownership when trying to get children to change or achieve.
Holly
Great insight and a perfect way to inspire children to see that there are more days then today!!
Barb
Yes! It also shows them that things worth working for takes time and effort.
Leslie W.
What a great post, thank you for the helpful hints!
Barb
Thank you
Lisa
These are good ideas! Thank you for sharing.
Cathy
I no longer have little ones at home, but these are great ideas and goals are important for anyone!
Angela
My youngest loves Lazy Ninja
Lisa
We did this with our kids. We made physical, spiritual, intellectual, and personal goals on our chart
Noelle Collins
I am going to have my kids do this today.
vanessa
Awesome idea! I was thinking that resolutions have played out, but goal setting is timeless and useful for so many things. Thanks for the encouragement.
Tonya | the Writer Mom
I love this idea! I might have to incorporate your tips into my daughter’s potty training.
Lucy
I did this last year! It was my son’s first time making a “new year resolution” and for the most part, he accomplished it 💪
Charlotte
I work with high schoolers. The part that is the hardest is revisiting goals. We get so caught up that I forget about the goals until the year is over.
Kendra
What a great idea! I’ll share this with my daughter.
Brianna
This is a great idea I’ve actually never talked to my babies about New Years resolutions. Thank you!
Amy Irvin
What an awesome post for helping the kids be responsible and succeed at a young age!
Robin
Great, informative post! I use my law of attraction planner to help me set goals. It really makes me think about things I never would have before. Thanks for sharing!
Beatriz
Thanks for the book lists!
Katherine Wolfe
Love these ideas, thanks for sharing! Our son isn’t little anymore {13} but I still plan on tweaking these to work for him. Thanks!