Your Children’s Vision Board

Whether you are one that aims to accomplish big dreams each New Year or you simply take each day as a new opportunity to reach stars, either way you inevitably have goals you wish to accomplish.

This is my thought process as I enter into New Year’s Eve every year.... I begin asking myself a few simple questions, and from there, create a vision board for myself. Once I hung my board up last year I immediately got slammed with hundreds of questions from my little tykes. They are growing now and have lots of questions. It made me start to wonder what my kids aspired to conquer throughout the course of 2014. I didn’t even have to ask if they wanted to make one for themselves; they were already pulling out magazines, markers, scissors, and glue.

What I learned throughout the memorable experience of watching my kids cross accomplishment off their board during the course of 2014 was the importance of listening to my children. I never knew the dreams they had or even the drive of ambition they had to reach them. Each child is a unique individual with completely different visions for their own future. Embrace their differences and let their imaginations run wild as they create their own vision board for 2015.

In order to create a realistic vision board, my family uses (and recommends) following these four simple steps:

Step 1- Each family needs to establish their goals, KidzWorld.com, recommends in their article, “How to Make a Vision Board”. Get a piece of paper and list of least 3. You may expect for your child’s to look like this:

My goals are:

To learn how to play the piano.
To get a job life-guarding at the pool this summer.
To get an A in math this year.

Step 2- Gather all the materials that you will need:

-Poster Board (1 for each family member)

-Glue Sticks or Double-Sided Glue

-Lots of old magazines, catalogs, traveling brochures, etc.

-Markers

-Stickers, glitter glue, ribbon, other decorations (optional)

-Scissors

Step 3- Start flipping through your magazines to find pictures and/or words that reflect your goals.

This part is especially fun cause it causes your child to ask a lot of questions. They might ask why you chose what you did which opens up an opportunity for them to get to know you better. They also might find pictures that raise the question if they could add to their goals. At that point you are helping them determine what is most important for the coming year.

Step 4- Glue or tape all of the pictures and words found. I would encourage your kids to glue them however they want. They might want them overlapped or far apart, either way it is their vision so let them have some freedom.

One of our traditions is to cross off each picture once we have established a goal. For example, last year one of my children put a picture of the Disney Cruise Line ship. Once he came home from the family trip he was able to cross off the picture. At the end of the year you and your child can talk about the uncrossed pictures. Were they important? Are they something that you can accomplish the following year? Are they no longer important? Use this positive opportunity to explain to your child that sometimes our goals change and that’s "okay". It’s all a part of growing up. Kids get this a lot better than we do as adults.

There is one thing that is for sure and that is, your “mini me” might be little, but I assure you that inside resides BIG dreams!

"We are limited, not by our abilities, but by our vision." ~ Unknown