Plan to help your student achieve their goals

You’ve been helping your child reach milestones and set goals for themselves since the time they were born. First, you encouraged them to roll over. Then, you helped them to walk. You taught them how to ride a bike, read a book, and maybe even served as a volunteer coach on their first youth sports team. But how can you help your now-high schooler achieve bigger, more complex goals? Remember, consistency pays off.

Whether your student wants to learn a new language, make a school team, secure an internship, or be accepted to their dream college, the key to setting big goals is to help them set smaller, achievable goals along the way—and then stick to them.

Perhaps your student wants to finish a certain reading list in a given time period. Help your student figure out how much reading is required per day and help them to set aside—and guard—time to achieve their daily reading goal. Before you and your student know it, that reading list will be checked off thanks to their consistent effort.

If your student has a dream internship or college in their sights, help them to understand the requirements for acceptance far in advance. Set small, monthly goals to achieve necessary volunteer hours, raise test scores, or gain any skills that may be necessary to do the job. Big goals often take a long time to reach, so encourage your student to stay diligent, even when the goal seems a long way off.

And when in doubt of how to reach a specific goal—because let’s face it, parents aren’t experts at everything—ask someone that has already achieved success. Encourage your child to make connections with trusted adults or older students that have already achieved the goal they’re currently pursuing. Who knows, you may even find a mentor for your student by making these connections!

Does your child want to learn a second language, but continues to struggle with conjugating verbs and increasing their vocabulary? Help your student connect with a language teacher, tutor, or anyone that has successfully learned a second language—maybe even English. Let your student hear their experiences and get their advice on how to achieve the goal of speaking a second language.

Or maybe your student has ambitious goals of publishing their creative writing. Have your student write to another student-author to ask for their advice. Or for guidance in securing a job, internship, or admission to a school, have your student meet with a trusted guidance counselor.

As a parent, you have unique insight into your student’s strengths, weaknesses, and passions, and are uniquely equipped to help them set smart goals for themselves. And regardless of the goal, establishing measurable goals along the way that encourage consistent effort will make a huge impact on their success. And you, as a parent, can serve as their biggest cheerleader and accountability partner.