Family Goals – How To Set Short & Long Term Goals For Your Family?
Family Goals – How To Set Goals For Your Family & Achieve Them?
How to set family goals? We can define a goal as the result that an individual or organization desires to attain after a given period. The goal should be not only observable but also measurable and time bound. Goals are imperative because they assist the individual or institution plan or their time. There is no way you can attain success in life unless you put down a clear definition of your goals. The family unit is dynamic, and this may make the process of setting goals a bit tricky. There is nothing that you can refer to as a typical family in the modern set up. Families range from traditional ones, single parents and even step parents.
Remember goals determine the kind of activities you undertake on a daily basis. A family is a crucial institution that requires goals to flourish. If you look at most families that fail is that they don’t have a reason for their existence. The primary focus of this article is family goals setting and examples. We will also look at long term and short term family goals. At the end of this paper, you will be in a position to propel your family in the right direction of economic and social development.
What Are Family Goals?
We can define family goals as the results that a family wishes to record after a given period. The family may include parents and their children. It is advisable to include all family members in the goals. There is a misconception that family goals revolve around the couple. However, we need to understand that other family members are key stakeholders in the family management process. There is no way you will succeed in implementing family goals that touch on other members if you don’t fully involve them. Therefore, family goals should be all inclusive if you wish to record success.
Family goals determine the way a family carries out and lives its mission statement and vision. These goals will assist you in building the best life for each member. Family goals will determine how you allocate your family resources. You will misappropriate your family finances if you don’t have well-defined objectives on what you wish to achieve. Family goals play a significant role in building cohesiveness, communication, and trust among the household members. It’s a powerful tool for training kids on how to develop their personal goals in life.
Family Goals Setting
There is no way you will set your family goals unless you have a well-defined vision and mission statement for your family. These two aspects assist you in defining who you are as a family and what you want for each member of the household. Once you have a vision, you can now set the family goals that will assist you to achieve your vision. Goals determine the kind of activities you will undertake as a family if you have to realize your vision. Here are some valuable tips you can use while setting family goals
The first point is that all members of the household should participate in the process of setting and achieving family goals. You should be creative enough to involve your young ones in the goal creation and implementation process. Involving very young children is not a must, but you can come up with the best way to include them. Most family members leave this task to the parents, but such an approach is not acceptable. The entire family has to work together from the origination to the implementation of these goals to ensure ownership. For example, you cannot plan for the education of your child unless you understand his or her career objectives.
Secondly, you should avoid setting too many goals at once. It’s better to concentrate on one to three family goals a time. Having several goals can be so overwhelming and leave all family members frustrated. You may try to achieve so much in the short run until to realize nothing in the long-term. You can set your family goals at any time in the course of the year. There is no magic of setting your family goals at the beginning of the year. However, there is no problem if you decide to set them in January and review them as the year progresses. All you need to ensure is that you are not struggling to achieve so much at the same time.
The third consideration when setting family goals is to make sure that they are SMART. All family goals have to be time bound, relevant, attainable, specific and measurable. It is very hard to achieve family goals that don’t meet this criterion. The fourth point is that you should note down all your family goals on a chart and hang them at a strategic point where every household member can read them. You can hang them on a refrigerator or family message board.
The fifth point is that you should schedule some time on your family calendar for sitting down and reviewing these goals. Reviewing of goals creates the most appropriate time to make any adjustments in your family goals. Finally, always use a tabletop flip chart when discussing the goals. This chart will make sure that everyone sees well and participates fully. The success of family goals depends on the approach you take when setting and implementing them.
Family Goals Examples
We have so many goals you can set as a family. Here are some of the family goals examples you can consider pursuing:
#1: Spend Dinner time together
There is nothing as good as a family having their dinner together. You can rarely take breakfast together because most family members are in a hurry to go on duty or to school. In addition, very few household members are present at home during lunch time. The best moment to dine together as a family is during dinner. You can also use this time to share your day’s experiences and encourage one another.
Eating together creates strong family ties that no person can break. The family dinner table is critical especially for older children. In case you have young children, you need to prepare your dinner early enough if you intend them to be part of the table. Dining together is one of the most important family goals that should not miss on your schedule.
#2: Hold a daily family devotion together
You will rarely come across a household that does not share a common faith. You can root your family by having devotions every night before you retire to bed. You need to have a precise timetable on who will be leading and encouraging the other members each day. Devotional time is among the family goals that prepare your kids to be responsible citizens. You can discuss a few family matters, share from the holy book, have some praises and make some prayers.
Holding a daily devotion is the best way parents can pass their faith to kids. Most families ignore this but it is among the most critical family goals. You need to agree with all members on the best time you can be meeting for fellowship. Take keen considerations of the younger family members and make sure that you don’t delay them to sleep. Children have a low concentration span, and you need to keep the devotional time short and precise.
#3: Have a Weekly or monthly family night
It’s hard for parents to get time together with their children as they get old. The children get more engagements in school and at their places of work. It becomes harder if the children you are dealing with are now married and have to pay more attention to their families. It is easier to get time for younger children than older ones. You can schedule some time depending on the availability of your kids just to spend some moment with them. You should put aside all your digital devices and reconnect as you come together as a family. You can plan to have some popcorn as you watch a family movie at night, play some indoor games, or just relax and have fun. The primary intention of this should be to build a strong family bond.
#4: Undertake a community service Project
Adding value to the community in which you reside is an enormous undertaking. It is the best way you can instill the virtue of sharing in your children. Such a commitment requires some resources, and you need to plan early. You can choose to do some cleaning in public places like a church environment, school or prison. You can also decide to visit a children’s home or a prison and share part of your family resources with the needy.
Creating some time for societal work does not only add value to the community but also enhances the social well-being of your family. You can carry out such activity at least one a year. You can serve the less fortunate by identifying a project that is in line with the passion of your family. There are several lessons and great rewards to both the parents and children from giving back. You may decide to use the Christmas holidays or go at the most appropriate time.
#5: Go for a Picnic
As a family, you can choose to have a joint retreat to the best destination you can afford. It doesn’t have to be very costly for you to attain your family goals. Use the resources you have to plan for something that perfectly fits into your budget. I have come across some families that simply take a walk around the town and enjoy the way they spend their time together. The most important thing is not the expenditure bit but the value such activities add to your family. Include some recreational activities in your family goals and you will have no regrets.
Long Term Family Goals
Households have both short term and long term family goals. Long term family goals need a lot of time and resource investment. For example, planning to take your family to tour a new country is time and resource consuming. Some long term goals may take over five years and needs you to develop an excellent saving culture. You can plan a visit to the world’s most interesting sites in the next seven years.
Once you have such a goal, you can start putting down strategies to raise the resources you need. You can also decide to build a children’s home or a rehabilitation center to serve the community. This is not something you will wake up one day and put up. Long term family goals call for a lot of devotion and discipline for you to achieve them.
Short Term Family Goals
Short term family goals require little time and less financial commitment for you to achieve them. All households should have both long term and short term family goals. Activities such as having dinner together, devotional time, and visiting a nearby children’s home don’t require a lot of time and money to organize. Anything you can design and implement within one year or less is a short term goal.
The irony is that most short term goals are more influential in building strong family bonds than even long term family goals. Most households concentrate on short term family goals, but it’s good to have at least one objective in the long run. You can do something that may appear to be subtle in your sight, but it leaves a significant impact on the receiver.
Conclusion
Family goals are very crucial for the day to day running of any households. It is imperative to involve all your family members when setting and implementing family goals. It allows each member to have a sense of ownership and recognition. A household can have both short term and long term family goals. Family goals play a major role in building strong family ties. In case you don’t have any family goals at home, you are trading on a sinking ground. You need to move with speed and draft some family goals since some of them have no financial implication.
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