Kids Identify Goals As Stepping Stone To Success (NAPSA)—Good newsfor parents and educators: More than half of today’s kids ages 8 to 17 (55 percent) in the United States believe “having a goal” is very important to achieving success, according to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Start Something, a free character education program from Target and the Tiger Woods Foundation. The most important factor in achieving success, according to kids? Education, which 70 percent of respondents said is “very important” to achieving success. However, parents and educators appear to have their work cut out for them in helping kids to make their dreams a reality. The survey further revealed that while goals are clearly important for many of today’s kids, 33 percent are not sure if they feel adequately prepared to develop a plan to achieve them. Moreover, the survey identified other key obstacles that often stand in the way of kids pursuing their goals. Many kids find that “deciding what my goals are” (25 percent) and “not knowing how to get started” (on accomplishing those goals) (23 percent) are big obstacles. Fifty-two percent of kids also say that “fear of trying to achieve my goals and failing” is somewhat or little bit of an obstacle, and 49 percent feel the same way about “not believing I can achieve my goals.” Of note, girls (27 percent) were more likely than boys (18 percent) to see fear of failure as a big obstacle. Fortunately for all involved, there are resources designed to Mostimportant factor in achieving success? Education rankedfirst with 70 percent of respondents. help make achieving one’s goals more attainable for kids. For example, through Start Something, Target helps kids identify a specific personal desire or goal and begin taking steps toward achieving their dreams. In the process, kids also identify personal values, interests and talents needed to achieve that dream. Teachers and youth group leaders can obtain a readyto-go curriculum for groups at www.target.com/startsomething or by calling 1-800-316-6142. More than 2.9 million youths and more than 79,000 educators and youth leaders have enrolled in Start Something since the program launched and more than $1 million in scholarships has been awarded to program participants. In addition to “having a goal,” other “very important” factors to kids in achieving success included “education” (70 percent), “support from family/friends” (66 percent), “hard work” (63 percent) and “intelligence” (62 percent). Interestingly, “popularity” was seen as a “very important” indicator of success by the fewest kids (14 percent).
