fashentyMany teens go through high-school with the attitude that what happens in high-school won’t have an impact on their future. However, these teens are in for a big surprise when “the future” arrives. As adults, we understand where our teenagers are coming from because we’ve been there before, but we also have the advantage of hindsight. We see how the things that we did and didn’t do in high-school have impacted our lives. Because we have this knowledge, it’s our responsibility to help our teenagers make smart decisions while they are in high-school.
Obviously, we can’t make our teens see how their actions now can affect them for the rest of their lives, but we can help guide them to make good decisions. One of the ways we can do this is by helping them to set goals for their lives. Setting goals is an important life skill that preferably needs to be taught when our children are still young. However, if your child is a teenager, it’s not too late – in fact, it’s the perfect time!
You may not think that setting goals is that important until one is in college and working towards a career, but this isn’t true. Goal setting is an important aspect that will help our teens learn how to achieve anything they want to during their lives…not just a career. This is why setting goals is a skill that needs to be worked on long before the college years. We all know that the best way to become good at something is by practice – and setting goals is no exception.
If you can teach your teen how to set goals that are achievable in a short amount of time, then you will be able to teach him or her how to set long term goals as well. However, it’s important that you help your teen establish short term goals before you jump to the long term goals. For example, if your teen wants to make the varsity basketball team, but doesn’t have the qualifying grades, then the first short term goal should be to get those grades up. You will need to teach your teen how to achieve this goal by asking him or her to come up with things can be done to get the grades up. Some acceptable solutions would include talking to the instructor about extra credit or finding a tutor.
The reason setting goals is so important for teens to do is because it helps them realize that they can achieve anything they want to if they are willing to work for it. These achievements can be anything from making the varsity basketball team, getting an “A” on a term paper, getting accepted to their college of choice, starting their dream career and so much more. Having goals will not only allow your teen to dream, but it will also give them the motivation they need to reach those dreams.
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