Do you have a vision for your family? Setting family goals is a good way to help you achieve that vision. Examples of family goals include things like choosing to eat dinner together three times a week or getting out on a family walk every day. Family goals don’t need to be overwhelming or difficult. In fact, many family goals examples show us just how fun setting a goal together can be.
How are family goals different than personal goals?
While personal and family goals can be similar, they differ in that family goals generally include your whole family. A personal goal, on the other hand involves just you. It is important to set both personal and family goals. Both will help you achieve the kind of life you want to live.
Benefits of setting Goals as a family
Setting family goals together can be fun! When you set a family goal your family is choosing to do something hard together. But family goals are not just fun. They can also benefit your family in the following ways:
- Family goals refocus your family priorities. In the middle of the give and take of family life, it’s easy to lose sight of what is most important to your family. Setting family goals helps to refocus those priorities and put what is most important on the forefront of your mind.
- Family goals can bond your family together. Spending time together in the pursuit of a goal will bond your family together. If you feel as if your family is drifting apart, setting a family goal can help to bridge that gap and bring your closer together.
- Family goals can teach your kids how to set goals. Although your personal goals give your kids a chance to watch you set and reach goals, there is no substitute for personal experience with goal setting. As you set goals as a family, your kids will learn how to set and then work towards difficult goals.
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Types of family goals
You can set family goals in time increments. For example:
- Daily goals are goals that you work on and accomplish every day. This might be going for a walk every night after dinner.
- Weekly goals are done on a weekly basis. For example, having a game night or getting out on a date as a couple every week.
- Monthly goals are done every month. This could include a goal like meal planning once a month. Usually these goals are long-term, perhaps over the course of a year.
- Onetime goals are goals that you can do once and then you are done. For example, taking the family on a vacation to Disneyland or Europe.
Time-bound goals are a great way to break down the types of family goals that you want to set into time increments.
Another way to set family goals is to do so by category. For example, you could set goals surrounding the following categories:
- Health goals (Eating vegetables at every meal or going for a walk every morning).
- Financial goals (Spending less on groceries or saving money for a down payment on a house).
- Organizational goals (Organizing your game closet or pantry).
- Community goals (Volunteering at a homeless shelter or getting involved in a community event).
- Family relationship goals (Have date nights once a week or starting a regular game night)
- Vacation goals (Taking a fun vacation or staycation)
- Academic goals (Reading a certain number of books together)
Tips for successful goal setting
When you want to set family goals successfully, it’s essential that you do it right. No hours-long planning sessions, bored kids, or intensive goals that you can’t achieve. Try these tips to help you set some family goals.
- Include the whole family. Kids (and adults!) are a lot less likely to feel motivated to complete a goal that they had no say in setting. Let everyone have a say. Listen to everyone’s opinions equally.
- Make it fun! If setting goals feels like a chore your family will shut down and not participate. So, make your goal setting session fun. Pull out some treats, create a conversation, and reward yourselves for working together as a family.
- Keep it age appropriate. Some of the concepts required for goal setting might be hard for little kids. Whenever possible, keep things age appropriate.
- Choose just a few goals at a time. Setting a lot of goals can feel overwhelming. So, don’t try to set all the goals. Just pick your favorites. Aim for no more than 3-5 goals.
- Choose SMART goals. It’s easy to write down whatever goals come to mind. But if you are not choosing a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely, you are wasting your time. Read SMART Goals for Kids.
Examples of family goals
Most of us don’t have a lot of practice setting family goals. That’s okay! If you don’t know what kind of goals you’d like to set, explore some of the family goals examples below.
Health goals examples
Daily Health Goals
Wake up earlier. Does your family love to sleep in? Maybe your kids are constantly missing the bus. Make a family goal to wake up earlier. Set those alarms and help each other get up.
Get more sleep. Getting up in the morning is a lot easier when you’ve gotten enough sleep. Instead of falling into bed whenever you feel like it, help each other get in bed earlier.
Get outside. Being outside is so good for you. Kids need that time to explore and play. Adults need time to disconnect from technology and the grind of daily life. Make a goal to spend a certain number of minutes outside or get outside at least once a day.
Create better self-care routines. Self-care is important for everyone in the family. Parents need to practice self-care for their own sanity as well as to model those positive behaviors for their kids. Make a plan that will help everyone in the family practice self-care.
Exercise together. Get moving together as a family! Maybe that means joining a gym, learning to cycle, or going on daily bike rides.
Eat more vegetables. One of the easiest ways to eat healthier is to include more vegetables into your diet. Talk about adding a vegetable (or two) to every meal and leave cut up vegetables in the fridge for snacks.
Weekly Health Goals
Family walk/hike. It can be tough to fit in a daily walk as a family. For most of us there are just so many things going on. Instead set a goal to take a weekly family walk or hike. It’ll get you outside on a regular basis without the pressure of doing it every day.
Read: Create a Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt
Monthly Health Goals
Cook a new recipe. Adding a new dish into your family meal plan is a great way to try new things and spice things up a bit. Pick a day every week or once a month where your family is ready and willing to try something new. If your kids need help cooking, try the cook book below.
- Hardcover Book
- English (Publication Language)
Annual Health Goals
Annual family Olympics. You choose the games and a time every year to compete. Have fun biking or racing to the finish line with your family. Give out prizes and make a day out of it.
Financial goals examples
Daily Financial Goals
Track your expenses. Keep receipts. Write everything down. It’ll help your family see where your money is going.
Weekly Financial Goals
Teach kids how to grocery shop. Teach your kids the process of grocery shopping. Let them help plan menu’s, make a list, budget, and then do the actual shopping. Not only will this help them later in life, it might also keep them from begging for extras the next time you are at the grocery store.
Monthly Financial Goals
Set a “family fun budget”. It can be exciting to do fun or new things. Set aside a certain amount of money every month that will allow you to do fun things with your family. Then use that money but stay on budget!
Set a budget. Setting a budget as a family is a great way to teach your kids about family finances. It will also help you stick to your finance goals.
Annual Finance Goals
Get prepared for emergencies. Make sure your family knows what to do in case of an emergency. In addition, you could create an emergency stockpile of food and household items to rely on during emergencies.
Check your credit (even the kids!). It doesn’t matter if you have great credit, or your credit could use a little work, checking your credit once a year can save your from identity theft, mistakes, and headaches down the road. You should even check your kids credit to ensure they have not been victims of identity theft.
One-time Finance Goals
Save for something big. Whether it’s a boat or a new car, now is the perfect time to begin saving for something big. Talk about this goal as a family and discuss ways you can cut back. When the whole family is motivated to save, those small funds will add up over time and pretty soon you’ll be ready to splurge.
Recreational goals examples
Daily Recreation Goals
Get a family pet/spoil the one you have. Has your family always wanted a pet? Maybe you have a pet but you haven’t properly trained or learned how to care for them. Do it now! There are all kinds of training courses where you can take your pet to be trained and learn more about them.
Weekly Recreation Goals
Plan and participate in a family activity. Does your family have a family night each week? If not, you should! It can be a great way to get your family together to play, learn, and spend time together.
Start a kindness club. Set a time every week to do something kind for another person or family. It doesn’t have to be big or expensive. Just something kind. You could even keep it focused in your family so that once a week each person is doing something kind for another person in the family.
Visit the library . Teach your family to love the library. There are so many wonderful resources available at your public library. From classes, contests, and story times to exploring new books. Your family will love having a set time to visit the library every week.
Monthly Recreation Goals
Learn a new game/hold regular family game nights. This is an easy and fun goal. Learn a new game. Choose a highly recommended game and learn it together as a family. Add it to your goal of holding a regular game night.
Read: 20+ Games to Play During Winter Break
Learn a new skill. Set a goal to learn a new skill as a family. It could be learning to golf, ski, cook, sew, or change a flat tire. The sky is the limit.
Annual Recreation Goals
Plan and host a family reunion. Gather the people you love and host a family reunion. Make it a group effort to plan meals, organize activities, and send out invites.
Start a new family tradition. Is there a family tradition that you’ve been hoping to start, but just haven’t been able to make it happen? Now is your chance.
Make a bucket list(s). Make a yearly, or even seasonal bucket list with your family. The things on your bucket list don’t need to be expensive or difficult. In the summer, ask your family what fun activities and things you’d like to do and/or accomplish. For example: go camping, host an outdoor movie night, roast smores, etc.
Take a family vacation. All of us need a vacation. Talk about when, where, and how you will get your next family vacation.
Community goals examples
Weekly Community Goals
Use reusable grocery bags. Your family can save the environment one (or ten) grocery bags at a time. Bring your own reusable grocery bags with you. Just make sure you are regularly washing your bags to cut down on inevitable germs that can build up. Aren’t these bags cute?
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Monthly Community Goals
Donate old toys and clothes. Clear out the clutter and donate your family’s unused toys and clothes to someone who could use them.
Read: How NOT to donate kids toys.
Annual Community Goals
Volunteer together. Do you wish your family spent more time helping others? Set a goal to volunteer together at your local food pantry, community resource, or just helping pick a neighbors weeds.
Family life goals examples
Daily Family Life Goals
Eat breakfast together. Breakfast can feel like a rush. Between getting ready for school and work, and finding something everyone wants to eat early in the morning, it’s tough. Help your family accomplish this by planning ahead and setting a time when everyone needs to be ready to eat in the morning.
Yell less. Whether you yell all the time, or just occasionally, setting a goal to yell less as a family can change the dynamic in your home. As part of your goal, you could seek out resources for what you can do instead of yelling.
Pray/meditate. Do you want your family to pray or meditate together on a regular basis? Set a goal! You’ll be more likely to remember if you pick a specific time every day.
Be on time. Want to know what makes you look professional and put together? Being on time. If your family struggles with being on time, it could be as simple as setting an alarm 10 minutes before you need to leave.
Set out clothes every night. One of the biggest battles to getting to school and work on time is knowing what to wear. If your family is rushing through the laundry room trying to find something nice to wear every morning, it might be time to start setting out clothes every night.
Cook dinner together. Set a goal to hit the drive-through less. The best way to do that is to cook dinner together often. Make a meal plan, pick and time, and get cooking.
Put phones away. Technology can easily take over the important things in our life if we let it. Whether you have teenagers who never stop texting, or just feel like you personally struggle to stay off social media throughout the day. Set a goal to put your phones away during certain times. Start with dinner. No phones at dinner. Next, try to put your phones away by a certain time at night. Small steps are key to success!
Practice time management. Time management can be difficult for anyone. It’s especially tricky for a whole family. Set a goal to use your time more wisely…doing the things you actually want to do.
Be grateful together. Gratitude can change your family. Set a goal to express gratitude every day. This could be while around the dinner table, or even keeping a gratitude journal together.
Have meals together. Don’t let the draw of an overscheduled calendar keep you from having meals with your family around the dinner table. Set a goal to sit down together once a day to eat.
Weekly Family Life Goals Examples
Schedule date nights. Date nights are a great way to spend some one-on-one time with the people you love. Make it your goal to spend regular time dating your spouse, as well as scheduling in regular dates with each of the kids.
Family yardwork. Does your family struggle with yardwork? Set a goal to work in the yard together once a week (or more). Teach your kids the value of weeding, planting a garden, and mowing the lawn.
Hold family meetings. Regular family meetings are a chance for family members to air grievances, plan fun outings, and bond. Set a goal to hold weekly family meetings. Help yourselves remember by setting an alarm and putting it on your calendar.
Read a book together out loud. Our kids love it when we read out loud to them. It’s one of the fastest ways to build connection and spend quality time with your kids. Pick a chapter book the whole family would love and read it out loud together.
Monthly Family Life Goals Examples
Distribute household chores. Having clear expectations can make family life easier for everyone. Set a time to gather your family and distribute household chores. Let everyone have a say in what they will do and when. Then write it down and post it somewhere everyone can see.
Annual Family Life Goals Examples
Make and use an online family calendar. This is the year to get organized. Set up a family calendar online. Make sure everyone has access to the calendar. Input events and refer back to your calendar often.
Plant a garden. Watching a garden grow throughout the summer is a great family project. It teaches hard work and patience, helps your family get outside, and can even help you save money. We love planting herbs in our kitchen windowsill.
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Do something with your pictures. It’s not hard to take a lot of pictures in this era of smartphones and easy access to cameras. But that’s where most of us stop. You might even house thousands and thousands of pictures just waiting to be seen. Do something with them! Put them into photo books. Add them to a digital photo frame. Whatever you can so that they are getting seen.
Visit extended family. Live far from loved ones? Discuss with your family how you can make a visit with extended family a priority.
Take family pictures. If it’s been awhile since you last had professional family photos taken, do it now! Don’t let time get away from you. You’ll treasure those memories for years to come.
Work on home projects. Do you have home projects piling up? Discuss with your family possible home projects, costs, and how you will get it completed.
One-time Family Life Goals Examples
Create and follow family rules. Has your family created a set of family rules? Involve everyone in the process of creating family rules. This will give your family a chance to voice their opinions and to feel invested in the process.
Give each person their own space. Does each person in your family have a good space that is just theirs? A place where they can go to be alone and decompress? If not, create a space for each person (even kids) to be alone.
Create a family mission statement or theme. Does your family have a mission statement or guiding theme? If not, consider choosing one as a family. A mission statement can help guide the values of your family.
Learn a new language. Learning another language together as a family could be really fun. Take a class, purchase language learning software, and then practice with one another.
