How To Create Family Goals For the Year-It's Not Too Late!

This last month we took some time as a family to dream and create some goals for 2024. Taking time to review God's blessings from the previous year and dream about the upcoming year will give your kids and your whole family clear vision and purpose for their year! You don't need many supplies, and you'll be surprised at how fun and creative your kids will be when dreaming about the things they'd like to accomplish this coming year.

Here's what you need:

Pictures from the previous year (use tablets, phones, etc) to review

Large poster board and marker

30 focused minutes as a family

Step 1: Review the previous year

This was so much fun! We all looked through our phones and tablets (starting with photos from January 2023) to see what we wanted to write down as a blessing, and what we wanted to write down as 'hard times.' We made a t-chart divided into "high points/blessings" and "hard times." For example, we wrote down "baby's first smile, trip to Gaylord of the Rockies, bathroom remodel, fishing, lots of hiking, dad back to school, and fun homeschooling as "high points" or "blessings" for 2023. (We didn't, but could have launched our photos to the TV for everyone to see while reviewing the year, but we might have to do this next time.) For "low points" or "hard times" we wrote, "pregnancy sickness, baby got sick, churches closed," etc. We didn't spend too much time on the "hard times" but it was important to review all the highs and lows of the previous year. We also took a moment to review our goals that we had set for the previous year of 2023 and were excited that we had accomplished several of them! Tip: take a picture of these posters so that you can refer to them at the end of the year.

Step 2: Talk about focused ideas when setting family goals

I'm thankful my husband does consulting and vision planning with churches and organizations for his full-time job, because he really helped us be strategic in our goal-setting! He listed five things for us to consider when setting yearly goals:

1. Do something

2. Go somewhere

3. Learn something

4. Achieve something

5. Buy something

This list really helped us to break things down and think of tangible and reasonable goals. Even our four year old was able to list some things, as you can see pictured above. He was one of the first ones to share something that he wanted to learn this year--roller skating. Honestly, this process helped me as an adult not just think about the strategic financial goals I have, but to dream bigger about my growth as an individual! Not all goals need to be serious. It was good to have the freedom to dream about something fun as well! We've already accomplished some of our kid's goals, like going skiing, so it is great that they had different types of goals to focus on throughout the year. Different goals will take different levels of effort and time.

Step 3: Dream

No goal is inherently bad, but some goals needed extra help fleshing them out. Some of us knew exactly what we wanted to set goals for. Others of us really had to take time to process and hear other's ideas in order to creatively form our own. It wasn't perfect! I'm pretty sure someone had to have a timeout for being rude and our preschooler needed multiple quiet toys because his attention span isn't as long as the older kids. But we kept at it. I don't think it took more than thirty minutes, but it was a start! My husband and I have taken more time to process our goals alone together and really make a strategic plan. For now, the kids get to look at their goals hanging on the backside of the front door. It blesses my heart to see my kids thinking about and dreaming further out than their next snack of the day, ha! I hope this is something they can look back on as a fun family tradition. Most of all I pray it helps them grow in their character as individuals who allow themselves to dream big, and know that big dreams often require lots of work and effort to make things actually come to fruition.

Conclusion

Don't let the months keep slipping by without some focused family vision! Encourage your kids to dream and set goals so that they, too, might have a chance at feeling a huge sense of accomplishment at a young age! Goal setting helps everyone think outside of the box, and focus on the big picture of life, instead of getting swept away by the daily grind. Make a plan to have a fun family goal setting meeting this week!