Not finding your motivation as a parent? Here’s why setting parenting goals is needed and how to get started.
Why setting parenting goals is needed.
I have to admit, I am in a parenting funk.
What I WANT to do and what I can realistically and actually accomplish is, unfortunately too big a gap.
I am sadly trying to grasp the reality that I cannot do all that I want and I am trying to readjust my goals to be attainable. Maybe it is getting older that I have realized that I need to set myself and my family up for the possibility of success.
Or maybe is that I, as a real life mom, need to stop banging my head against the door of what is NOT working and change the way I act and perceive things so that they do work.
If you look back to our old blog posts from years ago, you will see that I have many more Russian and bilingual posts than you see currently. There is a real reason for this. I haven’t done as much. I haven’t been doing an A, B, or C grade of parenting bilingual children. If I was getting a report card for teaching my kids another language, or even about the world beyond our neighborhood, I would definitely get a D-. That sure doesn’t make me feel like a good parent at all. Hey, I’m not perfect, but I do try hard.
So I think it is time for a good re-evaluation and setting of realistic, attainable goals for our family.
Now this may not be a big thing for you and your family, but it is for me. When I married my husband, I knew I wanted world-wise children.I knew I wanted to spin the amazingly beautiful language of Russian and rich cultural heritage of Russia into our lives. I want them to learn about a variety of cultures, cook foods from other heritages and realize that the world is full of some amazingly talented, kind hearted people.
My original goals:
I want to raise children that have a basic understanding of the Russian language so that they can communicate with their family members who do not speak English.
I want to give them a language framework that allows them to develop skills for the future, if they should choose to continue to study the language as they become young adults.
Ideally, I would like them to interact with our target language for 25 hours a week.
I want to raise world-knowledgeable kids that are compassionate to other cultures.
The parenting reality of these goals:
I have 3 young kids. My first language is English and my Russian is very basic. I can understand 85% of what other Russians say, but I have difficulty expressing my thoughts and ideas orally using vocabulary and sentence structure higher than you would expect of a young child. I can read stories, sing songs and teach basic vocabulary, but that is just it – basic vocabulary.
Originally, I had these grand ideas that my husband would speak his native language with the kids, reading stories with them and singing songs every day. He is an amazing husband and dad, but really has a hard time interacting with the kids in his native language. I can understand. He can talk to them in Russian and they don’t understand, so he says it in English and they respond in English. Nothing wrong with it, just discouraging for an adult, who is not a trained teacher and exhausted by the end of the day.
We have brainstormed solutions and have decided that positive interactions with the kids trumps language learning.
Adjusted Goals:
- I will plan and prepare one Russian lesson each week.
- I will allow the children to watch 3 – 30 minute language videos each week.
- I will play Russian music in the car and during playtime at least 3 times each week for 15 minutes minimum.
- I will use environmental print to my advantage and rely on internet websites and social media for support and help in creating these ideas.
- I will write out 4 history and geography lessons I want to teach the children each month and put them on the fridge for when the moment presents itself.
- I will post on the blog – whether you want to read it or not – because that is why I write for free and share ideas with you, to inspire myself to become a better parent.
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These are great language learning goals! So glad to have you as part of this linky <3
Thank you so much Dayna! Stop by often =) We are so glad to know you as well.
Thank you so much for stopping by Jill! My 7 year old really liked that and they print our with an English column and a Russian column so she could follow along reading the Cyrillic alphabet or the phonetic pronunciation. It made a simple video more challenging. Their scrips are online and free to print.
YEAH for baby steps! I'd love to hear what works well for you! We already had a little global lesson this morning and focused on some new Russian words, not full immersion, but a start!
THANK YOU! Becky =) I'd love to hear how your language experiences go. Please stop back and let me know!
Oooh, that is a great language and there are so many resources. IF you are new to the language, I really did enjoy Little Pim and Gus on the Go and I believe they both have Spanish programs too.
That sounds like a great plan. When the kids are older, I am hoping to enroll them in the Concordia Language Villages (MN) where they have Russian in addition to travels abroad.
Awe – you are so sweet. Sometimes it is hard to come accross as real on the "internet." as most bloggers and writers only share one aspect of their lives, but YES we too are real. I do need to remind myself that attempts need to be celebrated as well. Good tip!
Thank you as always Leanna for your support! I'll be weaving in Global lessons every week and am excited for the year.
Thank you so much for stopping by Melissa! Here is to all of us! So glad you are dedicated to raising global kids as well =) I look forward to sharing in adventures!
These are some great goals and give me inspiration. I look forward to staying up to date through 2014 and being part of this wonderful group of bloggers.
Great ideas for achievable language learning goals! Thank you for the tip about printing out the Little Pim scripts to read along with the DVDs! I will definitely try that approach.
These are some great goals and I think it is OK to adjust these goals. Just like you, I have three little children and still haven't figured out how to expose them to more Polish. I too had to adjust my expectations and that is fine becuase sometimes we don't know what is coming and plan too much… I just try to take it day by day and so far it is working out well…
I LOVE your adjusted goals, and will adapt them to our family:). We are always trying to incorporate more Spanish, but as the kids are getting older and into more sports and activities, it is definitely a challenge!
What a great goal, Mama! I'd love to start Spa ish with my kiddos this Spring. I'll be watching close to see what works for you!
I love your goals and I think they are reasonable if you are committed to them. As a failed trilingual family, I totally understand where you are coming from and admire you for wanting your kids to know their father's language. As it were, our daughter doesn't speak either of our first languages, but at least we are doing pretty well with cultural awareness. What is missing in our case for language development is commitment on both sides to learn a language without clear benefits of being able to interact with age peers in that language. We now know more German speaking children (younger than our daughter), and she starts to express interest in German, so I am cautiously optimistic that we might move further with German.
Ditto! I always appreciate people being real. Your goals are still big and Russian is a very minority language in the U.S. so I think you're amazing! I always try to remind myself that as long as I try to reach my goals, even if I only get part way, it's farther than if I hadn't tried at all 🙂
Wow, I can totally relate to having very lofty goals and then falling short of them! Thank you for posting this – great inspiration for setting more realistic (but still lofty) goals, plus practical and creative ways to reach them. I look forward to your new series!
Thank you, thank you for posting this! I have really been falling short of my own hopes for my kids' second language exposure, and your goals are a great example that will help me think about and create my own. Here's to a great year of learning for all of us!