Dreaming big is something we all hope to instil in our children. From praise to providing opportunities to excel, dreaming big should be something we foster from a young age. But many of us often focus on the reality rather than allowing ourselves to dream big too! With this in mind, how can we support our children to dream big and have high aspirations for their futures?
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Show your child you are pursuing your dream
Our children from a very young age follow our cues. If you have a passion project or something you’d like to do, pursuing this dream will show your child that they too have the capability to pursue their own dreams.
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Dream diary
If your child is creative and loves crafting or drawing, this tip could be a good fit. You could ask you child to try drawing their dreams and hopes in a book or decorating a scrapbook as a way to bring their vision to something more tangible. You could talk to them about how they could achieve their dream and help them keep their focus by revisiting the journal or scrapbook.
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Their dreams might not be the same as our own
Our children are all unique individuals. Our dreams for them as their parents might differ to what they want for themselves. Whilst we guide them to make good choices for themselves we should let them know we support them to pursue their own dreams.
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Have a family dream
Whether it’s a dream holiday, a new gadget or an experience, discuss a dream you can work on together as a family. Your family dream could also be something related to encouraging or fostering generosity and kindness. Look at ways you can implement your dream. You could for example, collect food as a family for the food bank and take it there together.
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Teach them to set and work towards goals
Goal setting is an important skill that will stay with your child all the way through secondary school and further. When they are still in primary school, start by setting smaller achievable goals and working up to a big goal. By dreaming but following through with purposeful action, it is an important lesson to children.