Goal Setter -- Dream It, Plan It, Do It
Child picks something they want to learn or improve at, breaks it into manageable steps, and creates an action plan. The agent coaches the parent to observe goal-setting, honest self-assessment, metacognitive thinking, and growth mindset language throughout the conversation.
Opens a guided voice session in TogetherTime.
What you'll need
Optional: paper and markers for drawing the plan. The activity is primarily conversational. Parent should be genuinely curious and supportive, not steering toward a 'right' goal. Any goal the child picks is valid -- from tying shoes to mastering a video game to being braver at sleepovers.
How it works
- 1~45s
Great goal! Now here's the important part -- before your child can make a plan, they needs to figure out where they is RIGHT NOW. Parent, ask: 'On a scale from one to ten, where one means just starting and ten means you're amazing at it -- where are you right now?' Then the key follow-up: 'What makes you give yourself that number? What can you already do, and what's still hard?' Tell me the number they picks and the reasoning behind it.
Watch for: Child provides an honest and reasoned self-assessment of current ability level
- 2~45s
Now comes the planning. your child knows where they is and where they wants to be. The gap between those two numbers is what we need to fill with steps. Parent, ask: 'What are two or three things you could DO -- actual actions you could take -- to move from your number to your goal number?' If your child says something vague like 'practice more,' push for specifics: 'Practice WHAT exactly? For how long? How often?' Tell me what steps they comes up with.
Watch for: Child breaks a goal into specific, actionable steps rather than staying at an abstract level
- 3~45s
Here's the part most people skip -- but it's the part that separates people who reach their goals from people who don't. Parent, ask your child: 'What might get in the way of your plan? What could make it hard to follow through?' Then: 'For each problem, can you think of a solution in advance?' This is called obstacle anticipation, and it's a real superpower. Tell me what obstacles they identifies and what solutions they comes up with.
Watch for: Child anticipates real obstacles and generates pre-planned solutions
- 4~45s
Last part! Parent, ask your child to summarize the whole plan out loud: 'Tell me your goal, where you are now, the steps you'll take, and what you'll do when it gets hard.' Then ask: 'When should we check in on your progress? One week from now? Two weeks?' I want to hear your child put it all together and commit to a check-in date. This is the moment where a plan becomes a commitment. Tell me how they summarizes it and what check-in they chooses.
Watch for: Child synthesizes the full goal plan into a coherent summary, demonstrating ownership of the plan