The demands of the family unit can be overwhelming: you have your spouse to look after and share your time and affection with, and you probably have children who are depending on your availability, care, and support for their positive growth and development. The failure to plan family life as we plan for our work, career, and social activities can be a reason why families fall apart. Specific family goals can help avoid this. Highlighted below are insights on how you can set your family goals. They are placed alongside some examples of goals that can bring about harmony in your family life.
What Are Family Goals?
There are different ways that one can look at family goals. One way is that they represent the desires you plan to achieve for your family. However, another opinion sees family goals as “any goal that inherently involves another member of your family in order to accomplish it.”[1] Looking at it this way, it becomes clear that you can’t achieve your family goals without the cooperation of your family members. For example, setting a goal to maintain peace within your family requires the cooperation of your partner (and perhaps your children) to accomplish.
Why Is It Important to Set Family Goals?
Whatever comes out of your family is the product of your decisions and that of your spouse or partner. While you can experience some level of success as an individual, your success becomes more meaningful when your family is able to feel your impact. As a spouse or parent, you have to take responsibility to ensure that your family is headed in the right direction, which is why it is important to set family goals. A happy family doesn’t just happen by luck or chance; it is a product of both good intentions and sometimes hard decisions to make your family successful.
How to Set Family Goals
Setting goals for your family shouldn’t be a difficult task. Here are some things to consider to make setting your family goals easy and fun.
1. What Do You and Your Spouse Want for Your Family?
Every family is unique, so you have to decide with your spouse what you want for your family. Think about how you want your family to look every day, or what you would like to achieve in a month, a year, or in 3, 5 or 10 years.
2. Which Families Do You Want to Emulate?
There are good examples of some families that you might like to emulate. What have you observed that you think are desirable virtues you can imbibe in your family? Write them down and check if you can work out similar things for your family.
3. What Have You Seen in Other Families That You Want to Avoid?
Have you seen anything around you that you perceive as threats to families? It is time to set your own goals to make sure that you don’t experience them. For example, getting home late perpetually can strain the relationship between a husband and wife. If you notice this trend, you might want to set a goal to return home daily at a scheduled time.
4. What Are the Current Challenges in Your Family?
Most problems in families persist because both husband and wife (and possibly children, too) have not taken the time to discuss them. When you talk about the challenges and discuss the possible solutions, then you can come up with family goals that will address those problems.
5. How Can You Keep Your Family Strong, Healthy, and Happy?
Keeping your family strong, healthy, and happy should be top priorities in your goal setting. The following are identified as characteristics of strong families: effective communication, affective involvement, encouragement, appreciation, commitment to family, social connectedness, ability to adapt, clear roles, time together, etc.[2] Think about how you can develop these attributes in your family and set goals towards them.
20 Examples of Family Goals
Ready to set your family goals? Find some examples below to guide and inspire you.
1. Maintain Mutual Respect
One of the causes of conflict in the home is the lack of respect for one another. Mutual respect is described as “speaking to one another in a respectful and considerate fashion, keeping your partner in mind when making decisions, and responding to your partner’s needs and wants.”[3]
2. Raise Responsible, Productive, and Happy Children
Raising responsible children doesn’t just happen by chance. Parents with grown-up children know this. You have the chance the plan how responsible, productive, and happy you want your children to be.
3. Have an Active Religious or Spiritual Life
If you follow a religion, religious devotion can play a key role in marriages. On one side, it can help you to maintain spiritual and moral uprightness; on another, it helps you belong to a community of people where your family can also get external support and encouragement.
4. Generate Sufficient Finances
There is a cliché that says money is the sugar in the tea of marriage. While that can be a subject of debate, the truth is that a lack of sufficient funds in the family can create stress and tension. Therefore, setting a goal to generate adequate funding for your family needs is a goal worth pursuing.
5. Have and Run a Family Financial Plan
You have to create a long term financial plan for your family. This includes considering saving plans, investment plans, child education plans, etc. You can also help your children learn about finances by offering chore money that they have to put into a savings account. If you’re not sure how to start making a financial plan, this article may be able to help.
6. Deal With Conflict Maturely
You can’t avoid conflicts or misunderstandings in the family, but you can determine to deal with them decisively and maturely. Setting a workable pattern for conflict resolution is a goal you should consider.
7. Grow up and Old Together (Longevity)
The primary purpose of marriage is companionship, and one of the ways to maximize this is to live a long time together. Plan the things under your own control to live long together, such as reducing stress, living happily, eating healthy, and exercising.
8. Maintain Open and Productive Communication
Encourage open and productive communication in your family. If possible, have a day each week for “tell it all,” where each family member will communicate their desires, pains, and opinions about happenings in the family and the direction the family is headed.
9. Create Family Values, a Vision, and a Mission
Visions, missions, and core values are not only good for individuals or corporate organizations, but they are also applicable to the family as well. Have some values and mission distinctive to the family and something you are all working towards together.
10. Create Work/Life Balance
Most people already have this as a wish, but you have to be more intentional about learning and implementing secrets to creating a work/life balance. Make sure you can have a good time with your family while also working hard to provide for them.
11. Encourage and Provide Top-Level Education
You can make it your goal to support your family members with funds to attain the highest level of education possible. This will take thinking outside the box to generate sufficient income.
12. Start a Family Business
You can plan to create wealth in your family by starting a family business, a legacy you can pass on to your children.
13. Spend Quality Time Together
Make a goal to spend quality time with your family on a regular basis. If possible, reduce screen time when you are at home so as to maximize your family time even if it’s just during family meals.
14. Create Time for Each Family Member
Each member of your family needs their own separate time with you. Whether you are a dad or mom, have it as a goal to spend one-on-one time with your spouse and each of your kids weekly or twice a month. Doing this will help you to get closer to them and understand their worries and needs.
15. Create Family Getaways and Special Vacations
One of the ways to create a happy family is by going on special family vacations and getaways. People can get bored if they always stay at home and might need a fresh atmosphere to unwind. You can plan this twice a year or once a year depending on your budget.
16. Create Surprise Nights out With Your Spouse
Deliberately inject some joy in your home by planning some surprise date nights with your spouse.
17. Follow a Family Diet Plan
Build a healthy family by ensuring that your family eats healthy. Once in a while, create a special diet plan for your family members to boost family health. If you have the space, you can even start a home vegetable garden to teach your kids about healthy eating.
18. Exercise Together
Have some fun with your family members by creating time to exercise together, either indoors or outdoors. You can do exercises like bike riding, playing basketball, or swimming at the community pool.
19. Create a Family To-Do List
Another way to encourage the unity of mind and purpose in your family is by creating a to-do list. For example, make a collection of books to read or movies to see and create time to discuss them later.
20. Start a Family Charity or Support One
Build a legacy in your family by creating a charity or foundation that caters to people with special needs. If you don’t have the time and resources to start one, you can make a commitment to provide regular support to a charity of your choice.
Final Thoughts
Keep in mind that when setting your family goals, your ultimate objectives will be to build a strong, healthy, and happy family. Being strong means that your family is bonded firmly together and that every member feels important and connected to the family. Being healthy means there is mutual love and respect, and everyone is in sound in mind, body, and soul. Being happy means there are few dull moments in your home; you are all having fun and everyone feels grateful to be part of a family that shows love and loyalty.
More Tips on Creating a Happy Family
How Not to Let Work Take Priority over Spending Time With Family 11 Simple Yet Powerful Habits of a Healthy Family 7 Reminders on Building Strong Family Relationships
Featured photo credit: Jimmy Dean via unsplash.com
