How to Encourage Your Child to Set Goals for the New Year

Setting goals for the upcoming year is a tradition for many adults, and it’s also a wonderful opportunity to inspire children to think about what they want to achieve in the new year. This practice can foster a sense of responsibility, self-discipline, and motivation.

Children as young as 7 are capable of understanding resolutions and creating their own. As a parent, you can guide your child in setting New Year’s resolutions that will cultivate good habits and encourage a positive mindset.

The following tips will help you and your child set meaningful goals for 2024.

Make Goal-Setting Fun

Coming up with resolutions for the new year can be a fun family activity. Take time to sit down together and discuss hopes and dreams. It’s beneficial for kids to hear your ideas and the reasons behind them. Consider some ideas for children’s resolutions, such as an improved grade, reading more books or trying a new sport or hobby.

Ask children about what is important to them and discuss why. Suggest rather than dictate, as this ensures that resolutions are meaningful rather than perceived as just more rules. Make sure the goals are achievable. Decide on a few resolutions for each family member and record them—creating a poster can be a fun way to visualise these goals.

Come up With Family Goals

Goals aren’t just for individuals; creating family goals allows you to deepen your bond with your child and gain insight into their emotional needs. Discuss what your family does well and areas that could be improved. Listen to your children to understand their wants and needs.

Consider goals such as spending more time together, limiting device use during family time, sharing more meals, trying different foods or speaking more kindly to one another. Anything that contributes to family harmony is helpful.

Use the SMART Model

It’s not enough to set goals for the new year, you also need to come up with strategies for achieving these goals. This is an ideal opportunity to introduce your child to the SMART model which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

This model can be used to create goals that are clear, realistic, and have a specific timeframe for completion. It can be applied in all areas of life, giving children a valuable tool. The SMART model encourages clarity in goal formation and ensures they can be quantified.

Provide a Positive Example

Setting goals and coming up with strategies is the easy part; sticking to them is much harder. This is your opportunity to demonstrate persistence and resilience. When your child sees you sticking to your resolutions, it will motivate them to do the same.

Hold each other accountable but avoid shaming children if they struggle. Provide gentle encouragement and advice, and help them come up with new strategies for achieving their goals if they’re finding it hard.

Create Vision Boards

Vision boards are a fun way to make goals more concrete for children. All you need is cardboard, magazines, printed images and words. Children might enjoy drawing their own pictures.

Think of images that represent the goals and stick them on the board. Display the boards somewhere visible, as this can be very motivating.

How Can a Tutor Help?

A tutor can assist in setting academic goals for the upcoming year, providing strategies for meeting those goals, and offering ongoing support to keep students motivated.

Encourage your child to discuss their resolutions with their tutor.