Goal setting for the kids

 

Goal setting for the kids

 

It appears to be a beautiful sunny day outside. It is now early Sunday morning and I have departed from my normal routine of not working out on Sunday and I worked out today. I felt inspired to and I believe it will not be a disgrace to the Lord. I usually like to rest on Sunday as instructed in the gospel and I believe I have plenty of time to rest today, it is only 8:00 a.m. and I have no plans for the day.

 

That gives me 14 hours of rest today before I go to bed this evening. During my walk the saying I can – I will kept coming into my head.

 

I felt a very strong urge to sit down with my girls and help them write out their goals for this year and above their goals we would put I can and below their goals we would put I will.

 

I would sit down with each of them, probably Katie excluded and write up a list of goals or objectives they would like to accomplish this year. It would be important for them to come up with the goals on their own so that they would take ownership in their achievement. Some people are not as self-motivated as others or they are just misdirected or misguided.

 

As children we don’t often set goals for our self unless we are in a competitive sport or event. Even then our coaches help us define our goal or objective.

 

Since my girls are not in competitive sporting events it will be my responsibility to help them define goals they desire to achieve this fiscal school year. There is no harm or injury to setting goals.

 

Goal setting is critical to advancement in life.

 

Without a goal we have no focus, no direction, and no course in which to follow.

 

It helps to motivate a person who desires to achieve a certain result.

 

We would take these goals and write them out on poster board and place them in their room where they would see them every day. We would also make a smaller version and post it in their bathroom.

 

Each girl, Christina and Kala would be responsible for coming up with their goals, a plan for achieving their goals and a strategy for the accomplishment. They would also be responsible for coming up with the poster. It could look any way they would like as long as it said I can – I will on the top and the bottom.

 

We would come up with some goals for Katie and Grace and put them up in their room and read over them every day twice a day so they become ingrained in their heads.

 

The girls may find this difficult at first but they will come to appreciate it over time.

 

It will give them something to shoot for.

 

No reward will be given except the reward or satisfaction that they accomplished their goal.

 

Certainly no money will be given, maybe some kind of treat or trip could negotiated.

 

First time through the goals should be moderately difficult but not so difficult that the lose their motivation to accomplish them.

 

They need to feel and believe they are capable of accomplishing that which they set out to achieve.

 

I need to discuss the possibility of rewards that might go with their accomplishment.

 

I believe they should have daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly goals.

 

I don’t want to get too complex but I believe they need to have a daily focus for accomplishing their goals. We can start off with the yearly goals and work our way backwards. Or we can start off with event goals and work our way backwards. It will be important that we are able to measure the attainment of the goal.

 

We can’t have some nebulous goal like I want to grow closer to the Lord. There is no way to measure that goal.

 

Also it will be important for them to know why they desire to achieve their goal, what is their motivation behind their desire to achieve this specific goal. I may want to have them write this out as well. I believe there will be some initial reluctance to this process only because it will be new and unfamiliar to them.

 

We will begin the process with prayer and end the process with some kind of minor payoff like a nice dinner.

 

I believe this will be fun and I pray Lord as I approach the children on this idea that they will accept the challenge with joy and not reluctance. I love you Lord and I thank you for loving me. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ. I honor you and give you the glory.

 

Amen.