Learning to set goals plays an important role as your child starts to gain independence. However, setting goals doesn't come naturally to your child, so helping him to learn the process should probably be one of your goals.
Explain the word “goal”. Your child may know what a goal is when it comes to soccer, but he may not understand what it means in everyday life.
Listen to your child. Ideally, you want your child to be able to decide for himself what his goals are. Let him talk about what he thinks he does well and what he thinks needs to improve. If he's stuck, you can provide some examples of your own personal goals.
Help keep goals achievable. Don't throw cold water on your child. For example, if your child wants to be a champion swimmer, but can't swim an entire lap of the pool yet, you can suggest he start by making that his first goal.
Help your child write down his goals in an easy-to-follow form. Being able to see and check off the steps on the way to his goal is the key in keeping him motivated. A really simple way is to have your child draw a ladder on a piece of paper, writing his goal at the top and each step to that goal on the rungs (横木).
A. Change goals every so often.
B. Make a visual goal reminder.
C. Don't always tell him what you think.
D. He's climbing to the top as he gets closer to his goal.
E. You can take sports as example to help explain it to him.
F. Once he has set up a goal, he may find it very difficult to achieve it.
G. When a goal is beyond his reach, help him break it down into smaller pieces.
