As a parent, you need to set realistic goals for your children. These goals must be high, but attainable. Encouraging your child to go to college when they reach the age of 18 is a realistic achievable goal. Setting the goal of getting into Princeton University at the age of 16 is a ridiculously high goal that few (if any) children in the United States can achieve.
A parent needs to teach his child to imagine achieving that goal. Remind her when she is having breakfast that she needs to go to college . Remind her of it when she does well in school. This can also be referred to as the power of suggestion. Suggest to your children what they can achieve by just working hard. This emphasis in the home will not damage your children when they become adults.