Balance

FAMILY GOAL SETTING Create a Vision for the Future Together!

Written by Jennifer Miller

A well run company thrives on a few things:

goal setting, appreciation and teamwork. A family is no different. Making goal setting a family priority is a great way to help instill values in your children and also create greater family happiness. Even children as young as 3 or 4 can benefit from intentional family goal setting or manifestation practice.

Goal setting, sometimes referred to as manifestation is, simply put, creating a vision for the future and putting energy and intention into making that vision a reality by aligning your thoughts, emotions and actions accordingly. It’s not necessarily about material things or making “wishes”. It is less about wanting things and more about creating the best and happiest life you and your family want to be leading. Setting these goals as a family unit and putting a plan together to get you there just strengthens your family bond through teamwork. This also improves communication between family members, especially kids and parents. Active family goal setting teaches children self discipline, collaboration, the importance of thinking ahead and most importantly, that their opinions and actions matter and make an impact.

So, how to get started. It can be daunting as parents to add one more activity to an already overly booked calendar so these following tips and tricks can be easily implemented into your daily and weekly routines.

HAVE A FAMILY MEETING

It doesn’t need to be long, shoot for 30 minutes on a Sunday afternoon. Have everyone pitch ideas for tangible family goals. It can be any category, like short term (more quality time together), Long term (planning a yearly vacation), financial, physical (taking a walk every night after dinner) or household (like implementing a family chore chart). These goals should be attainable and specific. Then come up with a list of actions you can start doing right now to work to achieve those goals. Just like a business, having these family meetings or “checkin” is what can keep you on track for achieving those collective goals.

MAKE A VISION BOARD

Making your goals visible is a method often used in manifestation. It is a visual way of keeping your goals on the forefront of your mind and reminding you what you’re working towards. Plan a family craft night. Gather old magazines, a poster board, glue sticks and scissors and get to work cutting out pictures or words that remind your family of the goals you’ve set. Hanging this in a visible to everyone spot in your home will keep the whole family excited and working for set goals.

PRACTICE GRATITUDE

It’s important when working towards bigger goals that you take time daily to express specific current things you are grateful for. This practice is not just for Thanksgiving either. Try doing “Pickle and Peach” at the dinner table. Each family member takes a turn to say one thing they were grateful for that day (Peach) and one thing they struggled with (pickle). This not only puts a family gratitude practice into play but opens up the line of communication between everyone by allowing all family members to share a bit of their day.

CELEBRATE THE SMALL WINS

Don’t wait to celebrate once you’ve achieved the big goals. The small wins are just as important! Did your child manage to get their homework turned in on time for a month after struggling with it? Did your toddler help with the toy clean up everyday for a week? Did the whole family make it out for a walk everyday? These are all wins worth a celebration! Even something as simple as a family movie night with their favorite treat or a trip to the park counts as a celebration. These small moments are what our children will remember years from now when, as adults, they are setting their own goals. They will know they are worth the celebration of any size win and no dream or goal is too big to achieve!