Parents and Caregiver Support - Tip #5
Tip 5. Set realistic expectations and achievable goals. Expectations and goals help you to keep going and stay motivated to continue to get up every day, get dressed, and move through the day with purpose and intention. This is true for parents and kids. Help your children make goals toward what they want to accomplish in a day or a week. Goals can be personal, or they can be group goals. Perhaps there are things that you have been wanting to work on but haven’t had the time. Maybe it is toilet training or teaching your child to ride a bike. Or perhaps you can take the time to teach your teen chess, or chemistry. Regardless of what it is, setting goals that are achievable can be rewarding and help strengthen the bond between you and your child.
Set goals that are measurable and achievable. For example, you could say, “In two weeks, my child will be able to write their numbers from 1 to 10.” Some goals, like the chess example mentioned above, may require a different type of metric. For something like that, you could make it a goal to set aside half an hour a day to play chess with your child. You should also set goals for yourself! Having something to work toward can be incredibly fulfilling, especially in a time where all the days can seem to be the same. Pick up a new hobby, clean up and organize that area of the house you have always meant to get to, or start a fitness routine. As long as the goals are measurable and achievable, there are no wrong answers.
For this last tip in the series, we have created a Goal Chart for you.
Tuesday, May 19, 2020