It’s that goal-setting time of year again. And teaching your kids about goals is probably one of the best goals you can set. After all, people who are good goal-setters are more productive and accomplish more.

But, for kids, goal setting can be a little daunting. Sometimes they’ll set unrealistic goals, like to somehow earn a million dollars that year from their lemonade stand alone. Maybe they set goals for things you know they have zero intention to follow through with, like to clean their room every day. Or maybe they set goals that kind of annoy you, because they involve a lot of mess-making and not a lot of cleaning up.

Regardless of where your kids are on the path of learning to set goals, here are three tips to help them become goal-setting (and hopefully goal-completing) masters.

1. Teach kids to set no-pressure goals.

If you want your kids to think of goal-setting as something enjoyable that helps them find peace and direction, you can start by making goal-setting fun and keeping it simple.

Help them set goals they’re actually interested in, and help them catch the vision of how those goals can help them grow into an amazing person. But keep the emphasis on the positive: not sticking to their goals doesn’t mean they’re doomed failures. It’s okay to change interests and reset our goals from time to time, and it helps us become well-rounded people.

2. Help kids plan how they’ll remember their goals.

Sometimes, kids will set goals, then immediately lose the list where they wrote down their goals. And never think about them again.

To avoid this, one easy way to help kids remember their goals is to have them draw their goals as a picture. Then, you can tape their picture-goal to the fridge, their bedpost, or another easy-to-see place. That way, every time they see their picture, they’ll remember what they’re working towards.

3. Teach kids how to self evaluate.

When your kid decides to set goals, you might ask them if they’d like to follow up with you. Plan the details of this follow-up. How often will it be? What will you ask about it? What do they want to hear if they haven’t been doing good on their goals? And how can you reward them if they’re doing good? Essentially, if you’re teaching your kids about goals, you also have to teach them to evaluate.

Eventually, they can take the skills they learn from these conversations and put them towards following up with themselves.

Is one of your goals this year to spend more time with your kids? If so, come to Coconut Cove! Coconut Cove is the best indoor playground in Utah, with slides, ball cannons, trampolines, and a literal maze of other fun things to do. Whether you’re planning a kid’s party or just wanting to spend quality time with the family, Coconut Cove is a great place for you to start.