New Year’s resolutions are so last year.
Instead of helping your family make resolutions that’ll fizzle out in a month (or less), take charge of 2025 by empowering your kids to create goals that’ll stick!
You may have heard your kids mention “aura points” or “rizz.” And while their slang might be different, the objective is still the same: to be confident, to be going somewhere, to have a plan.
One of the most sure-fire ways to achieve that? By creating goals.
To your kids, this might sound like another chore, but it’s all about how you frame it. If you tell them working toward their goals is the same thing as earning aura points, you just might have the key to helping them build habits that’ll become the foundation for their bright future.
1. Show your kids why goals matter
Think back to when you were a kid. Was there a friend or classmate who always seemed to have something you wanted? You may hear your kids doing the same things like, “OMG, Quinn has a PS5” or “Can you believe Quinn’s mom is a video game designer, how cool!”
Next time that comes up, make a lesson out of it. Ask your kids if a video game designer is something they might want to be when they grow up. Explain to them that they truly can achieve anything if they set goals and work towards them.
Having dreams is a beautiful thing, but something that big and abstract might be tough for kids to grasp. Help them visualize their journey by providing relatable, concrete examples from your own life like, “When I was 12, I wanted [example] and achieved that by doing [example].”
When kids work toward a goal, they experience a sense of autonomy, which is linked to confidence—those aura points they want badly. So, when you suggest goal-setting to your kids, explain that it will help them grow and get closer to their dreams!
2. Connect goals to a bigger picture
Goals without purpose can feel empty, so identifying “the why” behind a goal makes all the difference. Encourage your kids to think about what excites them or what they value most. For example, if their ultimate goal is to become an AI engineer who builds surgical devices, then their “why” is likely rooted in a passion for helping people and making the world a better place. Linking goals to personal values boosts motivation and long-term success.
With that in mind, their smaller goals could be things like “write one new line of code per day” or “do chores to earn money for college.” Those incremental goals are rooted in passion and working toward their dream. By helping your kids connect day-to-day efforts with personal growth and future aspirations, you’re helping them build a foundation for lifelong success. As they begin to see how their goals fit into a larger story, they’ll feel empowered to dream big and take ownership of their future.
3. Set age-appropriate goals
Tailoring goals to developmental stages ensures they are both challenging and achievable. Kids thrive when they are pushed just beyond their current abilities. Based on our 25+ years of expertise in education and achievement, this is our guide for how to create goals based on age…
Ages 7-9: Children at this age learn best through play and creativity. If your child dreams of becoming a game developer, frame their goal as an adventure. A goal like completing Coding 101 Camp is a manageable step, with instant feedback that offers motivation.
Ages 10-12: This is an age where kids should start to balance guidance with independence. It’s also the age where kids begin to benefit from “medium-term” goals, which connect effort with future rewards and accomplishments instead of instant gratification. Encourage goals that will allow them to try new things. For example, creating their own obby in Roblox combines fun, creativity, and growth over time.
Ages 13-17: Teens thrive when their goals align with their identities and future aspirations. At this age, encourage longer-term goals that help them develop a resume of skills. A goal at this age could be to develop an app or complete a more immersive course to add to their portfolio. In addition to that, autonomy and collaboration are huge at this age, so achieving goals in a social context will help teens solidify their sense of self and direction for the future.
4. Provide guidance but promote autonomy
When kids feel ownership over their goals, they’re more likely to stay committed. As a parent, your role is to guide, not dictate. Encourage autonomy by asking open-ended questions like:
- If you could be anything in the world, what would it be?
- Why does this goal make you excited?
- What challenges might pop up along the way, and how will you overcome them?
- When you crush this goal, what do you think success will look like?
- When you crush this goal, what do you think success will feel like?
These questions encourage kids to reflect on their interests, values, and anticipate potential challenges. By showing them you trust their ability to lead, you create a partnership that fosters both independence and accountability.
5. Make SMART goals
You may have heard of SMART goals before, but they’re not just for adults—they’re a great tool for kids, too!
SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Breaking down abstract ideas into clear, actionable steps makes creating goals easier to digest. Meaning, instead of your child saying their goal is, “I want to be better at coding,” help them create a SMART goal like, “I will complete a line of code every night for a month to improve my skills.”
This approach is more productive because it combines intrinsic motivation with external benchmarks, creating a sense of repetition and reward. Keep in mind that it’s important to be realistic with these goals. Writing a new line of code every night might be a lot. Start with once or twice a week and work up to that big swing. You can also make it fun and get them personally invested by encouraging your kids to visualize their goals with drawings, calendars, crafts, or a goal sheet.
6. Break big goals into bite-sized pieces
Large goals can often feel like a big undertaking, which is why we recommend chunking—a method that makes big goals feel more achievable by dividing them into smaller, more manageable steps. This technique reduces cognitive load, preventing kids from feeling overwhelmed.
When your kids come to build their robot at camp, we don’t just give them the parts and say, “Good luck!” Each day has a specific outcome associated with a chunk of the overall goal of winning the competition. We help them break down the larger goal into smaller goals like:
- Day 1: Learn protocols and begin building the base for the robot.
- Day 2: Dive deeper into engineering principles and utilize more equipment.
- Day 3: As the robot starts to take shape, customize its unique personality.
- Day 4: Build, iterate, and test robot designs.
- Day 5: Put technical knowledge and ingenuity to the test with a robot battle!
By using this framework and helping your kids focus on one task at a time, they will build confidence and momentum—both crucial for sticking with their goals.
7. Create routines that support goals
Establishing routines helps kids develop habits that align with their goals. “Habit stacking” is a strategy that involves pairing a new habit with an existing routine to increase the likelihood of success. This method makes it easier to build consistency and stay on track.
If your child wants to improve their coding skills, they could write one line of code right after finishing their homework each day. Or if they’re aiming to strengthen their reading habits, they might read one extra page of their book after brushing their teeth at night.
Pairing these small, manageable actions with routines they already follow makes progress feel like less of a lift. Over time, these simple habits compound, showing kids that steady effort and persistence can lead to meaningful results and help them build the foundation for achieving bigger goals.
8. Build a network of support
Achieving goals doesn’t have to be a solo journey—especially for kids. Teaching your kids to seek support from family, friends, and mentors is a powerful lesson in collaboration and resourcefulness.
If your kids have a goal of improving their coding skills, an actionable step toward that goal would be to join an after-school coding club, take private lessons, or find peers who share their interests (like at camp!). This not only provides accountability, but also helps kids learn from others and celebrate shared wins.
Encourage open conversations about their progress, how they feel about any failure they may encounter, and remind them that asking for help is a strength, not a weakness. By building a network of support, your kids will learn the value of teamwork, community, and the ability to lean on others—all skills that will serve them far beyond their immediate goals!
9. Foster resilience through setbacks
Setbacks are a normal part of goal-setting, and how kids respond to them shapes their resilience! Instead of trying to protect kids from failure, it’s much more productive to help them embrace it. Children who learn to view failure as a learning opportunity are more likely to develop a growth mindset—the belief that abilities can be improved through effort. When your kids encounter a challenge, help them reframe it:
- What can we learn from this?
- What could you try differently next time?
- Remember how far you’ve already come!
Failure is an innate part of STEM, and what defines failure is not the action but the reaction. With that in mind, know that praise should be centered around effort, not outcome. Encouraging your child with statements like, “I love that you never give up, even when it’s hard,” encourages them to focus on the process, building intrinsic motivation and perseverance.
10. Celebrate wins, big and small
Celebrating small milestones and major successes is key to sustaining motivation. Positive reinforcement strengthens neural pathways associated with goal-directed behavior, making kids more likely to repeat those actions.
Celebrations don’t have to be elaborate! For younger kids, verbal praise and high-fives go a long way. For teens, acknowledging their progress in a way that ties to future aspirations, like noting how a completed project will look awesome on their college apps, helps them see the big-picture impact of their efforts.
TL;DR
Helping kids set and achieve meaningful goals is one of the most impactful ways to build essential life skills like confidence, resilience, and autonomy. By guiding them to identify their "why," breaking goals into manageable steps, and incorporating progress into daily routines, you can make the process both achievable and rewarding.
Whether it’s mastering a new skill, developing better habits, or pursuing a passion, these strategies will empower your kids to stay motivated, adapt to challenges, and grow into their fullest potential—and yes, help them earn those “aura points” and level up their “rizz” along the way!