New Year Goal Setting for School Aged Children: It's a Family Affair

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Setting goals with school aged children can be a very rewarding process. There are some key points to remember in order to do so successfully.  

First off, the following suggestions are most appropriate for children who are 3rd grade and above {see my previous post about setting goals in the preschool/young child aged group}. 

 It's also best to have a whole family mentality or partner mentality. This helps the child feel like they are part of a team and that they aren't going it alone-an accountability partner if you will. 

Let's say that your child decides that they want to become a better reader in 2013 . Then, everyone else who is participating would come up with a reading related goal. So it may look like this...

Child: I want to become a better reader.
Mom: I will read one book per month that is NOT work related.
Dad: I will read a book to learn a new skill this year.

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Photo from Creative Commons

Another fun way to do resolution setting for families is to have categories like New, Improve and Continue. This keeps the goal setting within logical boundaries while also allowing for reflection of good things from the past year that should/want to be continued {this keeps us focused on the positive changes we have already made}.

Here is a simple example of how you can set it up for a 4 person family. 

There you have it! Have fun setting those family resolutions in 2013. I would love to hear what you come up with. Please post a comment and let me know if you do something similar or another idea you have. 


As always, thank you for reading.


Until  next time...keep helping your kiddos BLOOM.


Jen