Kid with a Vision

Childhood is great practice for adulthood. Many of the habits that we create in our early years, whether they are physical habits such as how we eat, to belief systems of how we interact with the world through our thoughts, become our inner guide throughout our adult life.

Creating a vision is a great way to get kids on a path of making great things happen for themselves through learning about themselves, who they truly are, and how they want to show up in the world. Without a vision, children may often flow through life, letting life just happen to them, often unfortunately letting other people choose for them. A vision sets up a set of values and goals that can serve as an internal GPS throughout life, even assisting them in making difficult choices.

The following activities can be done by your child or as a family, to boost the magic of creating a vision.

First, we recommend that kids create a vision about who they want to be. This is the most important step because even if they aren’t sure what they want to do or what they want to experience, who they want to be – their morals and values – is at the core of who they are, regardless of their circumstances.

For this part of the exercise, have them write down vision statements about how they want to live their life. Some examples include:

• “I live my life with integrity – I make the most positive choice, even when no one else is looking”

• “I look for the good in others – we all have special things we bring to this world.”

The next step is to look at each area of their lives and think about what they want to experience. As part of the exercise, have them use the “Balance Wheel”. The Balance Wheel is a coaching tool that is used to assess various areas of a person’s life for balance – emotional, social/community, spiritual, occupational/school/financial, mental, physical, family, and recreational.

Note…it is important when putting together this list that kids create their vision based on what they truly want to experience in life – not based on current circumstances and challenges. For example, if they want to become a doctor, but aren’t making good grades, they should still hold the vision of becoming a doctor. Low grades are just a challenge that can be managed away. It is important to teach kids not to whittle down their dreams based on their current situation.

Finally, have your kids create a vision board or write down their vision and put it someplace where they can see it every day. This serves as a constant reminder to follow their vision on a daily basis.