Dec 7, 2021 by Mary Kate | Organization
Time management remains one of the most challenging concepts to teach, as well as, practice for parents & educators. Goal setting is the cornerstone of having a positive balance between school work and extracurricular activities. Determining a meaningful value system helps you as a parent make decisions about spending time and also help teach your child decision making skills.
First developed by George Dorian for management companies to help focus on profits, the acronym SMART can help set goals that are realistic and achievable. SMART also helps to create a clear value system.
S Simple, sensible, & significant.
M Meaningful, motivating.
A Acceptable, achievable, accountable, actionable & assignable.
R Realistic, rewarding, reasonable, results-oriented & relevant
T timely, time-specific, time-sensitive, & toward what you want, truthful
Yes, sports & activities are important; however, sometimes families can over commit or lose sight of academics. SMART helps get things back on track by asking questions like: Is the activity: Sensible? Motivating? Accountable? Realistic? Or Towards our goal? If the goal of an activity is to have fun, it is motivating but it may not be realistic to commit to the activity four nights a week during the school year. Does the activity help your child stay accountable for their assignments in class or it is allowing them to miss important information? Sometimes asking the right questions and being SMART about the activities we choose to participate in can make all the difference.