Likewise with my children, I have hopes for things I wish to see growing in their hearts, yet it is concrete plans that will greatly aid this process.
When they were toddlers, I would keep the goals very simple - aiming for one goal in each area (spiritual, physical, emotional, social and intellectual) - partly not to ovewrwhelm my child by wanting too much too soon, but mostly so I could keep track of where I was with each child!
For example, when Emily was 3 years old, my goals looked like this;
spiritual - memorising passages of scripture over morning tea each day (eg Lords Prayer, 10 commanments, Psalm 121)
physical - dance class once a week
emotional - focus on sibling friendships and conflict resolution with sibling play time each day
social - have one friendship visit each week (at our house, their house or a park)
intellectual - work through a series of pre-school workbooks in one-on-one time each morning
Proverbs 22:6 encourages us to "Train up a child in the way he should go . . . " and 'training' requires intentional, deliberate and purposeful steps.
