I love setting family goals and goals for myself, long term and short term. It helps me to accomplish the things I set out to do and gives me a sense of purpose, which is especially important since I am a stay at home mom, a job that can get a bit isolating.
A great thing about goals is that they can be set year round with your family. Goals don’t have to be complicated, in fact making simple goals makes it more likely that you will achieve them.
When you are setting goals with your family, you are coming together to complete things each family member could benefit from working on.
When we started homeschooling it became even more important to me to help my kids develop smart goals, working on goals independently and with the family. Goals add character and teach kids skills that will help them be successful in school/homeschooling and adulthood.
Family goals are even more powerful because you are holding each other accountable and working together to achieve the goals you set.
What are family goals?
Family goals are goals that are planned together with your kids. You can sit together and brainstorm things that you want to do or improve on as a family.
Your family goals can be short term, long term, or seasonal. You can make them fun, like saving for a family trip or serious, like working towards sharing chores around the house.
I’m always telling my husband about goals I want us to work on as a family. Right now one of the goals we want to start is saving for a Disney Cruise. This is something we could work on as a family, deciding together to not do fun family outings and instead putting that money aside for our trip.
Working through this goal together is a great way for us to bond as a family and teach our kids valuable lessons about saving for something they want.
Why is it important to set goals with kids?
When you are setting and working through goals with your kids you are setting a real life example for them to build on in the future.
Psychologist Gail Matthews conducted a research study that showed people who write goals are more accountable, committed, and accomplished.
By setting up family goals in your home your kids will:
- Learn how to create goals
- Understand the different types of goals (Long-term/short-term)
- Learn that goals can be fun
- Develop team building skills as they accomplish the goals with their family members
- Gain responsibility as they are an active part of completing a goal with the family
- Be more likely to create personal goals now and in the future
- Will understand how to make a plan to accomplish hard tasks as an adult in a college or work atmosphere
What are some easy family goals to plan with kids?
Here is a great list of easy goals you can try with your kids this year. Don’t wait for the New Year to get started. Seriously, get a journal, notebook, app on your phone, or dry erase board and start writing out some easy goals.
Daily Goals
- Wake Up Earlier
- Be On Time
- Get Outside
- Pack Healthy Lunches
- Pray/Meditate
- Eat Dinner Together
- Eat Breakfast Together
- Carpool
- Set Clothes Out Nightly
- Follow Family Rules
- Nightly StoryTime (Young Kids)
- Set A Time To Unplug
- Family Yoga
Weekly Goals
- Family Game Night
- Weekly Family Dinner Plan
- Weekly Family Walk/Hike
- Stick to Weekly Chore Plan
- Have Kids Help With Weekly Shopping
- Use Reusable Shopping Bags
- Cook Homemade Dinners Together
- Family Yardwork
- Assign Family Jobs Weekly
- Act of Kindness
- Visit the Library
Monthly Goals
- Keep Monthly Family Calendar
- Monthly Family Meeting
- Volunteer Together
- Set a Monthly Budget For Family Fun
- Try a New Family Recipe Each Month
- Save for a Family Outing (Dinner, Movie, Bowling, Mini Golf)
- Explore a new hiking trail
- Support a family member in their hobby/sport
Yearly Goals
- Plan a Vacation as a Family
- Go on a Family Road Trip
- Annual Family Olympics
- Start a New Family Tradition
- Donate Old Toys/Clothes
- Make a Family Goal List
- Discuss Individual Goals
- Learn a New Skill as a Family
- Plan and Host a Family Reunion
- Camping Adventure
How do you write a family goal?
There are many ways you can write out your family goals at home. But, the main thing is that these goals are accessible and easy to understand by the whole family.
If you have little ones write a simple goal that is somewhere they will see it every day. For example if their goal is to brush their teeth every night you might have a poster or white board in the bathroom reminding them to brush their teeth with an image if they are too little to read.
Here’s a little graph with ideas for writing your goals.
| Ideas for writing these goals | When to check in | |
| Daily Goals | – Put these goals in a high traffic area where the whole family can see. Hangable white boards and chalk boards work great to remind the family what daily goals you’re working on. – Write a reminder note on your phone so you can remember to support your kids with their goals daily. – Keep a checklist so each family member can check off these goals daily – Have older kids write daily goals down in their personal phones, planners, or journals | Check in daily or weekly |
| Monthly Goals | -Monthly goals may or may not need to be seen every day. Maybe your goal is to save enough money by the end of the month to go on a day trip to the beach, so you aren’t eating out and saving that money as a family. >> Write out the goal together with your family either on your goals white board or in a planner. >> Discuss how you are going to accomplish the goal. | Check in mid-month for progress and at the months end to see if it was accomplished |
| Long Term Goals | – You should also write out long term goals with your family on a white board or in a planner. – Set reminders on your phone to keep up with this goal throughout the year. – Have kids write a goal journal with updates along the way, so they remember long term goals. | Check in every month or every other month. Ask your kids how they are doing on their goal journals. Plan family meetings to discuss progress on long term goals. |
Boredom Busting Goals for Kids
Keep your kids busy and happy during summer and holiday vacations or times when they are stuck at home. Give them something fun to look forward to with these easy goals. Help them plan new goals each week so they are always being productive and working towards something.
- Go outside at least once daily
- Learn a new skill each month
- Plan a family activity every week
- Learn about a hobby or activity family member loves
- Say something kind to a family member daily
- Do something kind for a family member daily/weekly
- Learn more about your family pets, teach them a trick
- With your family find a quiet trail to hike on (Use AllTrails)
- Start tracking the weather
- Find as many constellations as you can in the night sky
- Help your parents plan your homeschooling/distance learning week & rules
Take your goal planning further and help your kids make smart goals that they can accomplish!
How can we be successful completing family goals with our kids?
You’ll want your kids to be successful with their goals so they are more motivated to work towards another goal. If the goal you plan takes a long time to accomplish or is unobtainable then your kids might become bored with goal planning and stop working towards it.
Follow these easy steps to make sure your kids become successful goal planners.
- Choose obtainable goals. Don’t plan to save for a vacation if you know it will take 10 years before your family can actually obtain that goal. Your kids will likely forget about it and look at goal planning in a negative light.
- If your goal is long term, give your kids incentives along the way. They have brushed their teeth every night for 2 months, give them a small reward or prize to keep them motivated to continue.
- Use these Smart Goal tips to help your kids be successful at achieving their goals.
Get started on goal planning today with this printable list!
Subscribe for a bonus printable Family Goals Worksheet!
Have you set any family goals this year? What goals are you working on as a family? Are there any family goals you want to set? I would love to hear from you in the comments below!
Savannah becker
This helped me a lot and I’m so happy I found this list thanks
Sammy
Hi Savannah, So happy it helped. Hope your toddler is having lots of fun with these activities.
Adriane
Setting family goals can be such a daunting taks but I think it really helps build stronger families. Thanks for helping us get started!
Sammy
It really can be intimidating, but can be simple and really be done any time of year. I think we get so caught up with New Years resolutions that we forget to goal plan throughout the year. Glad these ideas helped.
Kayla Anthony
Hi Sammy, This helps me so much. I am a senior in high school and my teacher is teaching us about making goals and I think that this will give me a guide to pass that class. Thank you so much
Sammy
Hi Kayla, Glad it helped. good luck in your class! — Sammy
Alyssa
Love this list! It is SO true that you don’t have to wait for a new year to start setting goals to work on together as a family! A year is just too much time to procrastinate :)
Sammy
Hi Alyssa! It’s good to get your kids in the habit of making goals, so they can make goals when they’re older. It really can be any time of the year!
Rebekah Keizer
Sammy, Thank you for this post. I shared it in a post that I wrote today giving an overview of what some people do when they are making goals as a family. I love the ideas of putting time frames on goals and how you focused on the big goal of saving for a trip. Here is the post that I wrote where I shared your ideas: http://www.rklifecoach.com/how-do-you-plan-family-goals/
Sammy
Hi Rebekah! Thanks so much for the mention. I love breaking it down to show that any family can focus on a goal big or small together. Saving for a family vacation is a great one and helps in teaching your kids all the hard work that goes into planning and going on a family trip.
Janani Viswanathan
This Family goals idea is very impressive. In addition to setting our own goals, family goals will enhance our bonding and optimism. Thanks for this wonderful post.
Sammy
Hi Janini! Thanks for your comment. I love coming up with ways that my family can bond and am glad to hear I am helping other families like yours too.
Mother of 3
I love the idea of breaking goals down into daily, weekly, monthly etc. These are all wonderful goals.
Sammy
Thank you Joanne! It’s so great to teach our children that they can make long term and short term goals on their own and with their family.
Lauren
Great ideas! My husband and I recently set a family time to unplug and it has been great so far!
Sammy
Hi Lauren! Unplugging isn’t always easy, but I can see the benefit immediately when we are sticking to an unplugged time each day.