Children should help determine the direction of their lives. Teach your children that the decisions they make while still young greatly affect their futures. Decisions about family board not allowed things as health, morality, and education shape their lives. Helping them set short- and long-term goals helps you teach them important values.

http://www.anasazi.org

Hmm...I have to agree, but I would talk about planing. Graduate from school, get a job you like then buy a house and build up a family. That's a plan not a bunch of goals.

i think it's a good think to teach your kids to plan their day even. From age 10 they might be capable of doing it. Then you have to have goals why you are planing these things,but you can reach any goals without a plan.

Here is what I mean:

"Goal: I will get good number from school exam of (well...what ever...)
Period of time: 2 days (let's keep this short so you get the idea...)

Day 1 Saturday (free from school)

7:00 Wake up...eat breakfast, maybe watch some cartoons
8:00 Open the exam book first time,get to know it. Watch pictures, lists and make some notes. Don't read the text yet
9:00 Go out and do something fun.
11-12:00 Back inside and eat something.
about 13:00 Read the whole area ones. Take some brakes if reading gets too poring, but don't finish until you are done. You don't have to remember a thing. Count two hours to this task.
15:00 Do something fun.
17:00 Eat.
18:00 Plan how you will read tomorrow. Separate the reading in three or four sections. Prepare to learn from every section that most important thing.
19:00 Make questions to every section. What would you ask in the exam? 3-6 on every section.
20:00 Do something fun and get to sleep early.

Day 2 Sunday

7:00 Wake up. Do everything important as you see fit, but don't miss anything. Not even cartoons if they are up.
8:00 Take the first section and really learn from it. You have read that yesterday already so the text is hardly a news. You know what to except so get going. Take short brakes, but focus on your task.
11:00 Eat.
12:00 There's no time for games. Back to work. Exam is tomorrow so motivate your self by thinking the big number you are going to get, in necessary. Take section two under work.
15:00 Take a real brake, but two hour max. Do something fun for awhile.
17:00 Eat.
18:00 Now is time to finalize the whole task. Take the last one ore two sections and read them carefully like you did the last ones. It should take one hour for each.
20:00 Answer to your own questions and familiarize them. One of your questions might well be one what will be asked in the exam. Thrust your own judgment. Better remember something extra than miss something valuable. Go to sleep after this.

Exam day Monday

Wake up early. Visit out side if you need fresh air to wake up completely. Go to school. Don't worry about the exam. You have studied well so it wont be a problem. Just before the exam, don't open your books again. It's no use. If you didn't finish your study...it's too late. There is nothing more you can learn at this time.

If everything went as planned, you get a good number. Now you know how that goal can bee reached and you can do it again. The End"

Here you have one process. It takes time to learn this planing, but it really comes with good feedback. Why? i talking from experience. If I had learned in my childhood the skill of planing things there might be some rocks I wouldn't hit during my way up to adulthood.

A word of warning: Teaching planing to children is a rough ride. They don't swallow it without protest. It feel stupid and takes a lot of time, but when it's finally getting done...it helps in many things. It will be easy to transfer this from school to other tasks.


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i am also agree with both of you...every babies grow with watching the parents movements and characters...they always canvas our lifestyles to their own...so parents cultures, backgrounds and living styles will be more affecting to the children's life also...we are the basic foundations to make a better direction of their lives..we always need to motivate them to set a better future goals, value of education and better lifestyles....