How to set family goals – with examples you can try
When we think about goal setting, we normally think about setting personal goals. However, another type of goal that you may like to set are family goals.
Family goals strengthen bonds between family members, and improve your family’s overall wellbeing, lifestyle, or interests.
Here are some reasons why family goals are important, how you can set family goals, and some examples of family goals that you may like to try.
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Why setting family goals is important
Here are a few reasons why setting goals for your family is important:
- They give your family something to work towards
- They give family members a greater sense of belonging, and a sense of accomplishment when a goal is achieved
- Family goals provide structure and direction, and an overall sense of happiness and satisfaction
How to set family goals
Here are some things you can do to set goals with your family.
Get everyone involved
One of the best ways to set and achieve family goals is to make sure you choose goals that everyone in your family values.
You can do this by sitting down as a family and making a list of the goals each family member wants to achieve.
Once you have your list, make a shortlist that has at least one goal from each family member on it, this shortlist will become your family’s goals
Write the goals down
Writing your family goals down, and displaying them somewhere everyone can see, is a great way to remind your family what the goals are, and what needs to be done to achieve them.
You can display your family’s goals on a family wall planner, in a habit tracker calendar, or on a digital calendar that the whole family can access.
Make the goals time specific
Make your family goals time specific, for example, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or just a one off.
Examples of each of these timelines are:
Daily – eat dinner together every night.
Weekly – do a weekly meal plan.
Monthly –family game night the first Saturday of the month.
Yearly – prepare for Christmas early.
One off – a family trip to Disneyland.
Determine who’s responsible for a goal
Once you’ve set your family goals, determine who will be responsible for working on it, which could be one family member, a couple of family members, or everyone.
Schedule and check in with your goals
To ensure you achieve your family goals, schedule goal due dates into a calendar, and break down larger goals into smaller tasks and schedule these smaller tasks into your calendar as well.
Doing this ensures that whoever is responsible for working on a goal works on it by the due date, and having regular goal check ins with your family will ensure your goals are on track to being achieved.
Family goal examples
Here are some examples of family goals that you may like to try, or modify to make them relevant to your family.
Spend more time together
Spending quality time with your kids may be a family goal that you’d like to set, if so, here are some activities that you can try to achieve this:
- Board game nights
- Day trips
- Family walks
- Movie nights
- One on one time with your kids
- Reading together every night
- Trying new hobbies together, like learning a new skill, starting a garden, or doing a sport
- Weekends away
Start a family tradition
There are many family traditions that you may like to start, including Christmas traditions, Halloween traditions, first day of school traditions, or even Valentine’s Day traditions.
Spend more time outdoors
Spending time outdoors is a great way to enjoy the fresh air, and do some family activities that you may not always get a chance to do.
Here are some outdoor activities that you may like to try:
- Build a bug hotel
- Fly a kite
- Have a picnic
- Play mini golf
- Visit a farmer’s market
- Visit a new park
Book into extracurricular activities
If you’re looking for extracurricular activities for kids, some great ideas include football, gymnastics, scouts, girl guides, music classes, and acting classes.
Eat dinner together
Eating dinner together is a goal that many families have, but it’s often a difficult one to achieve.
If this is something you’d like to start, you may like to set a goal of having dinner 1-2 nights a week, and on weekends, which may be easier to achieve then trying to eat together every night.
Spend one on one time together
Spending one on one time with your kids could be a monthly family goal that you may like to try, which is a great way to make your kids feel special, and strengthen your bonds with them.
Take a family holiday
A family holiday can be long or short, overseas or local, and if you have children, travelling with kids can be made easier by finding kid friendly hotels, or taking road trip snacks with you for car trips.
Family holidays are a great way for your family to get away from the routine of daily life, reconnect as a family, and take a break from the school run, homework, and work commitments.
Visit extended family
Visiting extended family is a great way for your children to develop bonds with family members they don’t see often.
If you have family who live overseas, this could be a yearly family goal that you may like to try, or if your family is local, it could be a quarterly family goal.
Work on home projects
Are there home projects that have been on your to do list for ages but you just haven’t gotten around to doing?
If so, create a list of all the home projects you’d like to get done, then allocate them to family members, or work on them as a family.
Some examples of home projects include:
- Decluttering projects like decluttering toys, decluttering books, or decluttering kids bedrooms
- Kid’s chores that your kid’s could do
- Maintaining the garden
- Organising an area you’ve been meaning to get to for a long time
Set a financial goal
If there’s something your family has spoken about doing, or a large purchase you’d like to make that would benefit the whole family, start a savings goal that will allow you to be able to do the thing, or make the purchase.
Perhaps your kids would love an outdoor play area, you’d like to upgrade your home entertainment system, or there’s a special trip you’d like to take.
Determine the amount you’d like to save, work out how much you need to save every week, and discuss ways to save with your family, so everyone is working towards the financial goal together.
Enhance family communication
Setting communication goals improves how family members talk to each other.
You can do this by setting communication standards, such as a family rule that when someone is talking you can’t interrupt them, or having regular family meetings so everyone can discuss anything that’s concerning them.
Start a family garden
Starting a garden teaches your kids how to care for things, and if you plant fruit and vegetables, you can start to eat healthier as a family, as well as save money on groceries.
Create a family bucket list
Summer and Christmas are great times to create and work through a bucket list, so having a Christmas bucket list, and a summer family bucket list, is something you may like to try.
Family goals – a recap
Setting family goals is a great way to strengthen bonds between family members, and provide your family with something to look forward to.
Ensuring every family has a say in what the family goals should be, writing goals down, making them time specific, determining who is responsible for them, and scheduling goals into a calendar are great ways to set family goals.
Some examples of family goals include:
- Spending more time together
- Starting a family tradition
- Spending more time outdoors
- Booking your kids into extracurricular activities
- Eating dinner together 1-2 nights a week, and on weekends
- Spending one on one time with each child
- Taking a family holiday
- Visiting extended family
- Working on home projects
- Setting a financial goal
- Setting rules around family communication
- Starting a family garden
- Creating activity bucket lists
How do you feel about setting family goals?
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