In our professional lives it is common to set goals and then to somehow measure and evaluate whether or not we have achieved those goals.  Both employers and employees find goals to be useful indicators of performance and progress and in certain cases goal attainment can be linked to increased compensation and promotions.

Individuals may also set personal goals related to health and fitness or the acquisition of new skills, competencies or possessions over time.  In Western cultures, self esteem and motivation are often tied to the realization of goals.

Goals are a reflection of both individual and cultural values.  We place high worth on appearance and money and many goals relate to beautification and landing jobs that pay well.

Oddly enough, goal setting is not common for parents of young children, both for the parents themselves or for their children.  Parenting has increasingly become a competitive sport in which many parents seem to feel that they can never measure up.  Other parents always seem much more put together, more patient, more creative and even more fun.

But rarely do we consciously set goals and measure our achievement as parents by measuring how close we come to attaining specific goals.  Perhaps it would be beneficial to evaluate values and goals related to child rearing in an intentional manner.  What do we want for our children?  What do we want for ourselves as parents?  What is the goal of parenting?

Parenting goals can be related to routines, behaviors, communication, interactions, consistency, or a host of other topics.   They may be short term (“Today I will be calm and not raise my voice”) or long term (“I will read aloud to my child every evening for 20 minutes”).

Future posts will consider individual and cultural values tied to child development and child rearing and will explore how to set appropriate, manageable parenting goals that can provide a framework for successful parenting practices.