The beginning of any year is fueled with renewed motivation and an essence of ‘fresh starts’ and ‘new beginnings’ for many. While adults will often return to their ‘regularly scheduled program’ (the same job, routines and lifestyle they left for a few weeks over the festive season), school aged kids will usually return to a new learning environment and teacher and often a change of classmates and increased workload.
Finding ways to support our kids to not only adjust to these yearly changes, but to thrive, requires a level of awareness and compassion as parents. Resilience refers to someone’s ability to adapt to change and children are by nature, often more resilient than adults, however not always. As well as helping us to cope with change, resilience assists us to recover from setbacks. If as parents we can help to build resilience in our kids, it will not only help with day-to-day changes, but also support them with their goal setting.
Just as adults benefit from achieving their goals, so too, do children. Children are empowered and inspired by reaching their goals and the act of pursuing and achieving goals encourages resilience, focus and motivation. Supporting our kids to cultivate their own strengths and abilities through goal setting will help them to cope with all kinds of change throughout their lives (not just the yearly change of class at school).
According to online education resource This Time of Mine “goal setting can help you rewire your brain to expect positive outcomes, which can improve your mental wellbeing and help you feel more optimistic” and helps to develop a growth mindset and problem solving skills.
Simple ways to encourage goal setting for kids
- Writing goals down is an important step of goal setting and having a colourful visual representation of the steps is helpful for kids. Resources such as This Time of Mine can be helpful as they offer printable resources, (including free and for purchase) for kids to be active participants in their goal setting and resilience building progress.
- A calendar or journal purchased especially for your child each year is a helpful way for them to learn about tracking and measuring the passing of time. Being able to look ahead or back via a calendar may help kids to visually track their goals and is a great way to record achievements as well as goal deadlines.
- Teach your kids about SMART goals (setting specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based goals) in order to make goal setting realistic and enjoyable. Read more about SMART goals here.
- Be your child’s accountability partner and cheerleader. Check in weekly, fortnightly or monthly (depending on the goals) to help track progress. Help your child look at the finer details (the smaller steps) of their goals as well as the bigger picture and the end result. Aim to be non-judgmental and emotionally neutral as to whether they achieve their goals and help them navigate any setbacks and disappointments with compassion.
Financial Goals
Help your child set a financial goal for the year. If your child doesn’t already have a savings account having a savings goal to work toward is a great way to kickstart the process. Discuss the difference between short term and long-term financial goals and help them to decide which to pursue. It’s nice for kids to have their own goals they can track, so if they have an online account, be sure to log on each month or fortnight with your child or print out their bank statement so together you can watch the tally rise. A money box is a great option to build smaller amounts of savings in a tangible way.
Learning or Sporting Goals
Is there a goal your child could pursue this year that relates to their education? Perhaps your child would love to be selected for class captain, win an achievement award, join a sports team or enrol in a new course where they can learn new skills. Help them to decide what is important to them and support them in taking steps to pursue their goals.
Home and Family Goals
Perhaps as a family unit you have collective goals for the new year. It could be any kind of shared objective such as choosing a theme word to guide you (my family’s word this year is ‘peace’), or setting new goals and guidelines around dedicated family time, screen time or chores. Alternatively, you might be working together as a family to achieve something more tangible such as creating a new vegetable garden, decluttering your home or saving for a family holiday.
Australian Mutual Bank can help set up a range of savings accounts to suit each family member to assist with savings goals. Australian Mutual Bank has won the Gold award for Best Kids Savings Account for our Young Saver Account two years in a row (2022 and 2023). The Australian Mutual Bank Young Saver is a fee free account with a competitive tiered interest rate. For savings goals for the whole family, the Savings Motivator offers a generous interest rate to help you reach your savings goals sooner.
Alison Gallagher is a freelance writer, resourcefulness expert and entrepreneur. She has been featured in various publications including Stellar Magazine, Australian Health and Fitness Magazine, and Cleo Magazine. Alison is particularly passionate about sharing practical tips on how to live simply, sustainably and seasonally.
