Every child, no matter what age, should have goals. And yesterday, my fourth grade son reminded me of that.

My son mentioned to me that he had a class assignment where he needed to come up with a goal that he could achieve by the end of the school year. As soon as I heard his words, I put on my working mommy cap, eager to help him identify, fine-tune the milestones and document his goal. I mean this is exactly what I love to do—setting goals and achieving them!

I asked him what he was thinking of having as his goal. He said, “I want to play more sports.” His words actually took me by surprise, because he plays sports every day. In my mind, I started to think of better goals for him like getting an A on every math exam or reading a chapter book a week or simply playing outside with Baxter (our dog) four days a week. I even suggested those goals. And then something else happened unexpectedly. He frowned. That’s when I realized that he really had put some thought into his goal idea and he was proud of it. I took a deep breath, smiled and said, “That is a really good goal.”

From personal experience, kids love it when their parents support their ideas. And even if their goal seems a bit simple, sometimes it’s exactly what they need to feel more confident.

As a working mom who loves setting goals, I’d like to share the following goal setting tips for kids:

1.    Have your child set one monthly and one quarterly goal that is achievable. The key is to let them create and document their goal. Each of our children has their goals taped to their bedroom door.
2.    Work together on determining how to measure each of the goals.
3.    Agree on a suitable reward that will motivate your child to achieve their goal.

To a productive New Year!