Help you Child reach a Realistic Goal with a Road Map Activity

Do you find that your children become disappointed easily when they can't master something or they set goals too high and never meet them. I think as a parent we can all relate. Fishful Thinking has come up with a great activity to address these issues. Here is my story.

My Kindergarten son is an over acheiver. He is a perfectionist and gets disapointed if he doesn't do things perfect most of the time. I found this great activity to help him set some realistic goals to help him learn at an early age that he doesn't have to be perfect and it is okay to set goals (that may not require perfection) and met them to help feel like he has accomplished something positive.

I have included information from the Fishful Thinking website about this activity. The information may seem long but once you read it - you will see it gives a detailed example to help you understand.

Work with your child to identify one goal they'd like to set for themselves. Make sure it's a realistic goal so they have a positive and successful experience. Early success with goal-setting builds a sense of mastery, which makes it easier for your child to set and reach more challenging goals in the future.

Write across the top of a large piece of paper, “My Goal
Road Map”.
In the upper left-hand corner of the page, have your child write a sentence describing the goal. Make sure it's specific. For example, rather than writing, "I will get good grades," write, "I will get a good grade on my graphing project for math class." Put a circle around the sentence and decorate the circle so it's clear that this is where you want to go.
Write the word "START" in the bottom right-hand corner and draw a series of footprints between the word START and the goal in the upper left-hand corner.
In each footprint, help your child write a short description of a step he or she can take toward reaching this goal. For example, if the goal is to get an "A" on a graphing project for math class, the footsteps might read:
Step 1: Read over instructions and ask the teacher any questions
Step 2: Buy materials with Mom or Dad
Step 3: Look in books and on the internet (with Mom or Dad) for ideas for the hypothesis
Step 4: Make the hypothesis and collect data on 15 kids
Step 5: Draw a rough draft of the graph
Step 6: Write first draft of the explanation
Step 7: Ask Mom or Dad to look over rough drafts
Step 8: Redo the graph and the explanation
Step 9: Check for mistakes and make corrections
Step 10: Turn in the project — Yay!
Of course, simply having a step-by-step plan doesn't always ensure that nothing will go wrong. Most of us encounter at least a few obstacles along the way, and your child will too. To help your child stay on the right path, encourage him or her to identify some of the obstacles that he or she might face and have your child draw the obstacles as mountains or ditches on the map. Then, identify "Walk-Arounds", or ways to get around those obstacles and continue toward the goal. The "Walk-Arounds" could be wings that help your child fly or shovels that he or she can use to tunnel under whatever is in the way.

Here's an example of obstacles and "Walk-Arounds" based on the graphing project example:

Obstacle 1: I'll want to watch TV instead of working (Walk-Around: After I complete a step, I will watch 15 minutes of TV).
Obstacle 2: I'll put it off until the night before it's due (Walk-Around: I will put dates next to each step so I know exactly when I have to do each part).
Obstacle 3: I'll get bored and sloppy (Walk-Around: I will remind myself that I want to do well, and I'll save the most fun part—coloring it in—for last).

Once your child has done this exercise once or twice, he or she will learn to think a goal through without having to create a Goal Map. Although the Goal Map can be time consuming, it is a worthwhile investment of time because it will help to develop the skill of goal-setting early in life, and your child will have fun with you while doing it!

Check out the fishful thinking website http://fishfulthinking.repnation.com/Log.ashx?a=2&i=427&r=4763d707-5829-405d-b922-d8a3310fd862 so you can download the worksheet to help with the great activity. The worksheet is so cute and great to print off and use with your children. Give it a try and see if it works for your children.

Postive Parenting Inspire an Attitude of Gratitude!

I used this Fishful Thinking Inspire an Attitude of Gratitude activity today.

I used this today with my children.

I asked my 5 year old, "How did you help someone today?" He said he helped grab his little brother so he didn't get hurt when he was climbing something he wasn't suppose to. I asked my 4 year old the same question. He couldn't think of anything so my 5 year old helped him. They came up with my 4 year old getting out of the 17 months old way so he could get up.

I then told both of them I was happy they had been so helpful and it made me feel very good inside to see them helping others so much. The both were beaming with a smile. It is amazing how much a little prasie will go. I told them I was Thankful they were by boys and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Give it a try today and let me know how it went!

As parents, we lead by example.

Leading by example is a great way to help make expressing gratitude a part of your family's daily life. Whenever you find yourself feeling grateful—share it!

Great Holiday Treasure Box Activity for your children.

I wanted to share this great activity with all you ladies. I just started this with my boys the other day. We do our Treasure Box after supper when we are opening our Advent calenders. It is great and they love it. Yes - yesterday my 5 year old was thankful for the snow - and he will continue to be as the snow hasn't stopped.

I used an empty Kleenex (pop up kind) for our treasure box and wrapped it in Christmas paper. It looks great and works to get the "treasures" out. I use index cards for the treasure cards. This is such a great wat to teach your child about positive thinking (optimism).

Here is the info on the activity:

Work with your child to decorate a box that is kept on the table you eat at regularly. Keep a stack of index cards and crayons and markers next to the box. Two or three times a week, ask your child to write down or draw something good that happened, something good they saw or heard, remembered or accomplished. During a meal once a week, take turns pulling a treasure from the box and reading it aloud.