As parents we have a general idea of how we want our children to turn out as adults and it usually includes being happy, healthy and successful. Do we hope for the best? How do we know that what we are doing is helping them to fulfil these hopes?
Turning these long-term, over-arching hopes that are like umbrellas, into goals, could help us keep track of them. As they will take some time to fully manifest in the way we want – all things being equal. We have less than 18 years to teach a child to become a self-sufficient, fully functioning, contributing adult member of society. It is important that we keep this job in mind. Translating our hopes into smaller goals can also help us identify when things are not going to plan for an earlier intervention. The business sector uses planning and goal setting to help them achieve what they want. They’ve used SMART goals very effectively and we can use this method for setting our personal goals including parenting goals too.
Start by writing down your most important goals and use the example of the headings below to help you. When you have written down your goal, making it specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and tangible – put them where you can see them and refer to them regularly.
If you need some help to identify some specific goals, look at the list below:
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