Kids are always surrounded by people in their homes, schools, playgrounds, etc., paving the way for numerous social connections. While having an active and healthy social life is crucial for every person, so is having the ‘right’ connections. At Delhi Public School Kangra, positioned among the top 5 CBSE schools in Kangra, we believe that the type of people one surrounds himself/herself with significantly influences one’s goals. This holds more importance in the case of kids. Many kids unconsciously pick up goals that their friends are pursuing without actually taking their own interests and goals into consideration.
For instance, has it ever happened to you that you joined a debate club or a dance class after hearing heaps of praise about it from one or more of your connections? It happens because you tend to trust the information your social connections share. The same thing happens with children. If they don’t realize how every interaction and experience they have with their connections is subtly molding their aspirations, they may end up picking the wrong goals that aren’t even aligned with their self and innate skills. To ensure they don’t make this mistake, make them learn how their social connections unknowingly influence their goals. The following points will help you in this regard.
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Shaping Aspirations
A person’s social connections are like walking windows to new possibilities that often broaden their horizon and inspire fresh ambitions. As such, regularly interacting with social connections from diverse backgrounds can expose your child to numerous career paths and possibilities. For example, a casual conversation with a computer science student may ignite your kid’s interest in coding, whereas spending time with an environmentalist can spark their curiosity in pursuing sustainability studies.
Hence, we at Delhi Public School Kangra recommend spending more time with people who have similar goals or shared interests. This will prevent your kids from making wrong career, academic, and personal goals.
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Setting Expectations
Peer pressure is real and often puts children in a pressure cooker environment. Since social connections aren’t limited to friends, the baseline expectations set by the family members, cultural community, neighbors, etc., may also influence their goals. In most cases, these expectations can motivate children to aim higher, work harder, and thrive in all areas of their life. So, if your kids grow up in a family or community that values education, it will influence them to set higher academic expectations.
But if they’re born and raised in an environment that doesn’t prioritize education, they may feel satisfied with setting lower expectations. In short, the social circle they remain in will always set an expectation of the desired standards they create for themselves. It is, hence, important that they remain wise in choosing their social connections.
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Absorbing Others’ Limiting Beliefs
While the right social connections can influence their goal-setting processes in the right direction, there remains a possibility that they may unknowingly accept some of their limiting beliefs as their own. It can significantly hamper their growth journey, making them believe they’re incapable of achieving specific goals.
We at Delhi Public School Kangra want every student of ours to understand that these external doubts can quickly seep into your thinking, creating self-imposed limitations. The only way to prevent accepting other’s limiting beliefs as yours is constant self-reflection and assessment. It will help you identify your true strengths, weaknesses, skillsets, improvement areas, etc., ensuring you don’t let your connection’s beliefs overpower yours.
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Enhanced Support for Goal Achievement
Regardless of the goals your kids set for themselves, they will always need support and motivation during challenging phases. It is where their social connections come into play. If they surround themselves with supportive family members, friends, teachers, mentors, etc., they will feel encouraged and motivated to pursue their goals actively. They may even get assistance in arranging the best resources needed for their success and may also get help in overcoming their limiting beliefs, fears, doubts, etc. Conversely, the wrong connections can demotivate them, leaving them hanging in the middle of chaos, and eventually taking them away from their goals.
So, whether their connections help them achieve their goals or discourage them depends entirely on the type of social connections they make. In this regard, we at Delhi Public School Kangra, one of the top 5 CBSE schools in Kangra, very firmly believe that you, as their parents, must stay involved in helping your kids choose their social connections wisely. While having even one true social connection can support them in achieving their goals, a single bad connection can flip it all to the negative side.
Conclusion
If you feel our kids are very ambitious and goal-driven, you must be mindful of the type of people they surround themselves with. Always take time to reflect on the quality of their existing social circle. See who inspires them, supports them, believes in their dreams, holds them back, constantly discourages them, etc. The more you reflect, the clearer things will become. Make your kids understand the importance of the right connections in life. Tell them how staying surrounded by the right social connections can help support their goals and life journey because they will make it relatively easier to stay on track.
After all, the fact remains that while we cannot change people, we will always have the ability to choose people who challenge us to grow, fuel our drive, and inspire us to take action. It is up to us to make the right choice!