37 Incredibly Easy Family Goals | Long and short term examples!

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

1. Wake Up Earlier
2. Be On Time
3. Get Outside
4. Pack Healthy Lunches
5. Pray/Meditate
6. Eat Dinner Together
7. Eat Breakfast Together
8. Carpool
9. Set Clothes Out Nightly
10. Follow Family Rules
11. Nightly StoryTime (Young Kids)
12. Set A Time To Unplug
13. Family Yoga

Weekly Goals

1. Family Game Night
2. Weekly Family Dinner Plan
3. Weekly Family Walk/Hike
4. Stick to Weekly Chore Plan
5. Have Kids Help With Weekly Shopping
6. Use Reusable Shopping Bags
7. Cook Homemade Dinners Together
8. Family Yardwork
9. Assign Family Jobs Weekly
10. Act of Kindness
11. Visit the Library

Monthly Goals

1. Keep Monthly Family Calendar
2. Monthly Family Meeting
3. Volunteer Together
4. Set a Monthly Budget For Family Fun
5. Try a New Family Recipe Each Month
6. Save for a Family Outing (Dinner, Movie, Bowling, Mini Golf)
7. Explore a new hiking trail
8. Support a family member in their hobby/sport

Yearly Goals

1. Plan a Vacation as a Family
2. Go on a Family Road Trip
3. Annual Family Olympics
4. Start a New Family Tradition
5. Donate Old Toys/Clothes
6. Make a Family Goal List
7. Discuss Individual Goals
8. Learn a New Skill as a Family
9. Plan and Host a Family Reunion
10. 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!