Goal Setting For 2017!

Back to School can conjure up feelings of joy for parents and trepidation for teachers. It's hard to miss all the wild excitement for it, as five minutes after the post-Christmas sales finish, the back to School ads appear. So what are some considerations for heading back into a new academic year? From a teacher’s point of view, I'd love to see kids coming back having had an awesome break, feeling reinvigorated for their next year of learning with one or two goals in mind for what they want to do. So how can you achieve this? Most kids have no idea what they want. The same could be said for a lot of adults too, but you never know what someone wants until you take the time to ask them.

Whilst the cliché idea of the New Year’s resolution is nothing more than a notional way people feel good for a day or two before they go back to their old ways, goal setting with your kids is completely different and is an excellent way to create a positive and proactive start to the year.

Take some time in the holidays to spend a day one on one with each of your kids. A special day out with mum or dad. Do something fun and then ask the child about what he or she would like to achieve this year. What do they want to achieve academically, sports-wise and for their personal interest? What excites them? Is there anything that worries them, or anything they might see as a barrier this year? This can be a great and informative goal-setting exercise and you might discover interests that your kids have that you never knew.

This sort of one on one family discussion can quite often be missed due to the busy nature of our lives, but it can create focus and lead to other great conversations with your kids throughout the year. It's really important you make the time about them. It's not what you want them to do or achieve this year. It has to come from them. It's about what they want to achieve. Your task is to tactfully frame the conversation and provide the opportunity for your kids to think about the idea of setting goals.
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Having a healthy and proactive mind goes hand in hand with having a healthy diet and being physically active. So coming into the new year, set the scene for your kids to get the most out of 2017! Spend some time, set some goals and together you can look back as a family on the many proud moments that come from this. Have a wonderful and prosperous 2017!