Going For Goals

By Patti Brooks
Lower School Coordinator, Lakehill Preparatory School

I love setting  resolutions every New Year!  I’d rather call them goals, though. Goals are something we all set whether it be at work, at home with our families, or for our personal health.

As a former second grade teacher, my class and I would always discuss resolutions and goal setting during the first week back from our holiday. Seven year olds know the meaning of goals better than resolutions.  They understand that a goal can be a score in soccer, a spelling test grade, or making their bed each day.

I loved seeing that thoughtful look on their faces when I asked everyone, “What is your goal for the new year coming up?”  Sometimes hands flew up quickly, but certainly not from everyone!  Setting a goal is hard!   It means you have to be able to look at yourself and see areas in your life where you need to improve. It means putting your feelings and thoughts  into words!

I read recently how important it is to teach children a “goal setting routine”. It trains them for life to get in a habit of looking at their situation at home, school, in sports, etc. and being able to decide how they want to improve.  Then the next big step is writing down the goals and posting the paper where it can be seen daily (as a friendly reminder). It is hard to stick to a plan of improvement, as we all know.

Hopefully, the resolutions/goals we all set for 2012 will be realistic, attainable, and accomplished!