Make It A Habit Of 2015



New Year’s Resolutions Are Not Just For Kids

The New Year is quickly approaching and while you are contemplating those New Year’s resolutions create some short-term goals that increase your child’s overall healthy habits. While what we do is model appropriate habits to our children, we also want them to learn how to make and stick to short-term goals.  Children need practice in making goals and taking the steps to achieve them. This is the perfect time of year for this lesson, says pediatric dentist, Dr. CameronFuller.

Whether you want your child to brush and floss more regularly, join a sport, or eat more fruits and vegetables, they take their cues from you.  When creating a goal with your child it should be one that they are invested in. This will help keep them motivated to achieve it. Smart goals are ideal because they are specific, measurable, action oriented, realistic and time-bound.  “Once you have created the goal they want to achieve, you can map out what steps they need to take in order to achieve the goal, how long they want it to take, and how you are going to measure whether they are actually completing the goal,” suggests Dr. Fuller.

Sitting in a dream state of wanting something to happen does not create a situation where it actually happens, but by having children create a goal that together you can hold them accountable for, will then help them to be able to transfer this skill over to other areas of their life.




 

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