A to Z of Great Parenting: first posted early March 2007
G is Goal
Encourage your children to have goals and help them plan to achieve them. Celebrate when they do and help them learn when they don't.
From saving for an expensive toy, to budgetting their first pocket-money allowance. From a revision schedule to an inter-rail trip. Being able to plan and achive goals is a high-level and vital skill. Be wary if your school steers away from this area as being 'elitist' or unfair on some children. If so, it is not preparing children for the competitive world of work. All children can have goals (not necessarily the same ones) and all can be successful in their own chosen area. The act of goal-setting helps this process tremendously.
And be a good role model yourself: set a few goals. And make them happen.