New Year’s resolutions aren’t just for adults. In fact, they can help your kids change negative behaviors and adopt positive ones. They also teach little ones that hard work and perseverance help them reach their goals. This valuable lesson starts with creating actionable resolutions that they can achieve. Get some tips to set your kids up for success when making resolutions.
Make SMART Resolutions
Begin by helping your kids create SMART goals. SMART stands for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Results-oriented
- Time-bound
Additionally, the goals need to be relevant. You want your kids to pick something that they want to achieve. If they think they’re only setting and working toward resolutions to make you happy, they’re less likely to follow through.
Examples of SMART Resolutions
Your kids should choose resolutions based on their goals and desires. However, you can help them out by giving them some examples.
Let’s say that your child has a bit of social anxiety and wants to make more friends. Your son or daughter might set a resolution to be the most popular person in middle school. That’s not measurable, though, so instead, you’d want to set the goal to make more friends. Then, he or she can work toward the goal by inviting a new friend over to your house twice a month. Your child will make progress each time he or she invites a new friend over to play.
Now, let’s say your child wants to do better in school. The resolution might be to bring home a report card full of A’s. He or she will need to work up to the goal, so breaking it up into small pieces will make it attainable. Thus, your child can initially shoot for scoring all B’s or higher on quizzes. Then, he or she needs to put a plan in place to achieve it. Studying for an hour each night will help your kid reach the goal.
What if your child is a budding sports star? Then, the goal might be to make the varsity team or break a school record. Again, you’ll want to break the goals up. For instance, if your kid is going for the school record in the 400-meter dash, the first goal should be setting a personal best record. Then, you can help your child set up a training program to make it happen.
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Helping Kids Reach Goals
Once the resolutions are set, your kids will get to work. There’s power in numbers, so ask your kids if you can work toward the goal together. Keep in mind that not all kids will want to do this. You can also share experiences you’ve had overcoming obstacles and reaching your goals. This will help them realize that everyone has to put in the hard work to reach goals.
Setting and working toward goals can be a family affair. If you don’t work alongside your kids, come up with your own resolutions. Then, you can monitor and talk about your progress together. That can give your entire family the boost of motivation needed to reach goals.
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