Children and Setting Goals

The dedication in the front of our book, The Fish Story*, states: “We dedicate this book to the newest generation of Little Honeys and Angels, and to our grandchildren whose arrival in this world inspired us to complete these stories.”
 
In the beginning, publishing our Little Honey Stories was nothing more than a pipe dream. But as we made progress it became a goal, an obtainable goal, and we completed our first book. It became available on Amazon in 2015.
 
This was not the first and only time in our lives that we set our intentions and were able to achieve what we set out to do. The joy of accomplishment can’t be beat - and we want our children to experience this too. Being able to set goals and achieve them is something we can all learn to do, even as young children.
 
There are benefits to teaching children how to establish goals and accomplish those goals. Through this process, children may develop stronger resilience and determination, and grow to understand the relationship between hard work and attainment. Additionally, achieving goals may help them become more confident.
 
Some suggestions to guiding your child as they set goals is to make sure the goals your child chooses require some extra effort on the child’s part but is still obtainable. It helps, too, if your child can have some fun along the way.
 
It may also be useful to break down the goal into clear steps for your child to make it more manageable. Finally, you can be their role model and cheerleader as they make progress, even providing small rewards as they move forward.
 
There are books that may be helpful. The Wild Robot trilogy, written by Peter Brown, may be seen as a book for middle school aged children. But even very young elementary and even some preschool children can enjoy these books when read to them. The middle book of the trilogy has the robot, Roz, trying to get back to her island and friends. She has a clear goal and is determined to achieve it. Her journey is one of overcoming obstacles, finding the helpers, and learning about her environment. It may prove inspirational and motivational.
 
Do you know any other books that do this? If so, feel free to share in the comments below.
 
·       (The Fish Story has been translated into Japanese.)