setting goals

By: Ann-Noelle McCowan, M.S, RYT
Guidance Counselor; Yoga Specialist

For many children and adults, the end of the school year and the start of summer is an eagerly awaited transition. In schools the days are counted down, final assignments handed in, lockers cleaned out and yearbooks signed. Kids imagine the freedom of more sleep and play, and a reduction in work and stress. During the school year, kids operate under routines and schedules that dictate many aspects of their life. What time to rest and what time to rise, predictability with where they will be each day, who they might encounter, and what their afternoons and evenings will entail. Kids of all ages feel safe and secure when they have clear routines and expectations. With some simple tips, families can help kids of all ages have an enjoyable summer and a smooth transition between school and summer and back into the school.

1. Reflection: With my NESCA clients and school students, I work towards building and strengthening children and teens’ ability to self-reflect. Self-awareness and curiosity are crucial skills to manage life’s ups and downs and be our best selves. Encourage your child to look back over their year and think about something they enjoyed, learned, worked hard on, or experienced. Have them think about issues that were difficult but are no longer triggers for them (such as a friendship struggle or challenging assignment). This can be a verbal discussion, journal writing, drawing, family share or even acted out. Helping kids look back over their successes and struggles, and talking about what occurred, and could have been done differently allows reflection during a safer, less charged time. It also subtly practices executive function skills such as working memory, problem solving, cognitive flexibility, perspective taking, emotional regulation, and holding and shifting focus.
2. Setting Goals: The longer, sunny days of summer allow different opportunities for goal setting. It may be swimming out to the dock, adding to a sea glass collection, making a new level in a game, getting through a favorite book series or teaching the dog a new trick. This discussion could also explore ways to break down that goal into achievable steps over time, or what the back-up plan may be if there are unforeseen road blocks (e.g. collecting white rocks if no sea glass is found or conducting research on where to find sea glass) and when the goal will be reviewed or if there will be some family competition involved. Optional: talk out loud about these being brain-strengthening practices of building executive function skills in the areas of action, focus and effort.
3. Routine: While summer is a time to relax many routines, routines are stabilizing and comforting for children. If your family has Taco Tuesdays, FaceTiming with grandparents on Sundays or soccer practice on Thursday, creatively incorporate these familiar routines to help smooth the start and end of summer. Maybe it’s Tacos Tuesdays on the family vacation week, or a family soccer scrimmage or watching World Cup highlights on Thursdays. You might just find a summer routine that could be added to the school year as well (Sundae Sundays anyone?).

About the Author:

Ann-Noelle provides therapeutic yoga-counseling sessions individually designed for each child. NESCA therapeutic yoga establishes a safe space for a child to face their challenges while nourishing their innate strengths using the threefold combination of yoga movement, yoga breath and yoga thinking.