As I was writing out all my goals, I thought it was a little strange that my kids don’t really have goals of there own.  Don’t get me wrong  they have the goals that we as parents impose on them, (do well in school, try hard at sports activities etc),  but do  they know how to set and achieve goals of their own.   So I sat them down this week and asked them if they new what a goal was.  Remember my kids are 7 and 5…the answer I got back is….that is what you get when you score in a hockey game (they both play hockey).  I had to agree with them as they were technically right, and rephrased the question.  This time I asked  them what they wanted  to get out of going to hockey (to keep with the hockey  theme) and again was surprised by the answers  that I got…My 7 year old wanted to be a leader, and my 5 year old just wanted to have fun.  both great goals, and both I would say were achieved.  As the 7 year was just awarded most sportsmanlike, and everyone comments on how much fun they had with the 5 year old on the ice.  But are these the kind of goals that are going to drive them towards something, or are they just feelings that they have.

I learned a valuable lesson through this conversation with 2 kids, that I  think changed the way I want to approach things, and that is  how important it is to talk to your kids, how important it is to help them set goals, and celebrate them when they are achieved.  We have set a set series of goals, to see how far they can push themselves to be successful.

Goals are so easy even kids can make them!!