Kids and Goal Setting, Why is it So Important?

This can be great fun, and can make a huge difference in their lives. Goal setting for kids books, worksheets and activities will all help you to introduce this idea to your children. It doesn't matter if you are a parent, teacher, grandparent or friend, if you can encourage the children in your life to start setting goals at an early age, you can have a profound affect on their lives.

But why would you bother with this goal setting activity with kids?

You're busy enough aren't you?

• In today's information age, people are bombarded with so many choices, decisions and options. It's very easy to get sidetracked or to just "go with the flow."? Learning how to set goals at an early age will give your child the tools needed to live a purposeful life. They will be able to make decisions that get them where they want to go instead of just reacting to whatever is in front of them at that moment.

• Most highly successful people are avid goal-setters. Pick up any best-selling book from personal growth gurus and there will be a section dedicated to goal setting. These coaches don't consider goal setting an option; to them it's mandatory if you want to live an amazing life.

• When you take the time to sit down and totally focus on your child, you KNOW how much they love that. This is about more than just Goal Setting, it is about saying how much you love them, and that you care enough about them and their future, that you are prepared to spend time working on it with them. You KNOW what an impact that will have with them. They will love Goal Setting, and feel so proud when they have written their first goal.

• Setting goals can lead to profound feelings of happiness, purpose, confidence and self-worth. Imagine your child being confident because they know that they have the ability to achieve whatever they want to achieve. Imagine how exciting the world would be to them!

Is it not about time that we take a much more serious interest in our children. They are after all, the foundation on which our future will be built.

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Winsome Coutts holds a teacher’s certificate in education and has written hundreds of articles on self-development. She has studied with Bob Proctor and John Demartini, popular teachers featured on “The Secret” DVD. She is the passion behind the project at -

http://tinyurl.com/happykids4life

Happy, High Achieving, Or Gifted Child – What Is Your Desire?

There seems to be an inner longing from parents to not only have happy, but also high achieving children. They must be able to perform well both academically and socially.

Identification of gifted students is clouded when concerned adults misinterpret high achievement as giftedness. High-achieving students are noticed for their on-time, neat, well-developed, and correct learning products.

Adults comment on these students' consistent high grades and note how well they acclimate to class procedures and discussions. Some adults assume these students are gifted because their school-appropriate behaviours and products surface above the typical responses of grade-level students. But does this necessarily portray the correct picture?

Some educators with expertise in gifted education are frustrated trying to help other educators and parents understand that is imprtant to be academically astute and fully integrated with your social circle.

While high achievers are valuable participants whose high-level modeling is welcomed in classes, they also have a different learning and social interaction style. In situations in which they are respected and encouraged, gifted students' thinking has more diverse perceptions than is typical of their other peers.

To articulate the above differences to educators and parents can sometimes be a challenge. What must be remembered though, is that they are still children after all. Maybe we as parents should just ensure that they grow up to enjoy themselves and become happy kids for life.

For additional reading on children's abilities and attributes, please go to;

===> http://tinyurl.com/happykids4life


Gerard.

Teaching Children About Discipline And Reward Systems

There tends to be an agreement by most parents that discipline in its more simplistic definition is highly desirable, but it is not so clear whether disciplining children is the best way to help them become more conscientious.

Numerous research papers seems to suggest that punishing children increases aggression and violence within them. Additional evidence also indicate that you acquire more influence with children when you give up trying to use power to control them.

Is it therefore not better that when having a choice between authoritarian control and permissiveness, adults should focus on building self-discipline through influence?

Authority can have multiple meanings, including that based on expertise, based on position or title, or even on power. Children especially, don’t respect power authority, even if they have to obey it, or whether it comes with the traditional reward-and-punish approach. Rewards and punishments are external controls; take away the control, and the behaviour modification disappears

Using rewards for behavior modification is difficult, given the need to reward consistently and almost instantaneously. If a reward seems too far removed in time, it will be less potent. In particular, you cannot prevent children from getting rewarded by others for unacceptable behavior

When children can acquire their own rewards, rewards no longer work for behaviour modification, as it have to be felt as attainable, or children will give up and stop striving

Did the above remind you of your own child, or that of a family friend in your neighbourhood. Are you concerned that you might be losing the war on self-discipline when it comes to children?

For additional and more hard-hitting facts on this matter, I suggest that you go to;

===>http://tinyurl.com/happykids4life

Don't forget to get others to visit the site as well.

Thanks and Good Luck,

Gerard.