Family Goals – Why They’re Important & How to Set Them

Besides the typical goals, you have as parents for your family, like keeping a roof above your family’s heads, keeping everybody healthy, and providing in your family’s financial needs, setting other family goals can make your family grow stronger. Especially when you have teenagers in the house.

What are the qualities of a strong family?

But what does that mean, a strong family? You wanna give your kids the best childhood they can have. That’s a given. That is the goal of every parent, creating pleasant childhood memories. You want them to be happy and carefree, for them being able to fully develop themselves. You want your kids to grow up being happy, capable adults. 

How do you accomplish that? Now I’m not a child development professional or something. I only speak as a mom. In my opinion, there are a few aspects that need to be in place to create a happy home.

Of course, there are more ingredients for making a happy family. But at least, these are the basics.

Why is goal setting with families important?

When you have a strong family, it is easier to set family goals. It’s also more fun achieving something together. Setting family goals is important for the bonding aspect. You have something you all want to achieve, a common desire. You commit to reaching your goals together. And you can celebrate when you reach your family’s goal. 

There are a few things you need to keep in mind when you set family goals. Setting that kind of goals are a bit different than say setting goals for yourself or for your career. It’s not just for you, because the results need to benefit the whole family.

How to set proper family goals

Step 1

You need to come up with what you want for your family. Do a brainstorming session. How can the family grow, what do you want to achieve? You could make a mindmap. Take out a big piece of paper and write in the middle “family goals”. Then let everybody pitch in. You would be surprised by what comes up doing this exercise. And it’s great to have a visual too. 

Step 2

After brainstorming a bunch of ideas, pick one. Yes, just one big goal. Sure, you could pick a few smaller goals that go with it. But to let it succeed, pick one big family goal. 

Step 3

Set a deadline. When do you wanna reach this family goal? Be specific, pick a date and don’t say “this summer”. Setting a deadline makes it measurable. 

Step 4

Now discuss as a family what needs to be done to achieve this big goal. Do you need to save up money? Is there some organizing involved? Make a big list (or mindmap again) of all the steps you need to take, as a family, to get to where you wanna go. 

Step 5

Assign the tasks to the individual family members. Get everybody involved in this. Even when you think the kids couldn’t contribute much. Let your teenagers in, but maybe keep it light. Especially if it’s a financial goal.

Step 6

Hold family meetings to see where you are with your goal. Maybe you need to make some adjustments. Talk about it with everyone involved.

Step 7

Celebrate with the whole family! Enjoy reaching your goal. This is also a great moment to set the next one!

Examples of family goals

Some bigger ones:

• Take a dream vacation
• Do a big home project
• Have a celebration or family reunion
• Buy a (second or third) car for the teenagers
• Declutter the whole house, garage, and attic
• Get healthier and lose weight together

Some smaller ones:

• Have a family evening once every week or every two weeks
• Volunteer together, find a good cause to help out as a family
• Have at least once every month a family day
• Cook something new together once a month and enjoy the meal as a family

Reviewing your family goals

Ok, you set some goals with your family and you are working on getting them achieved. But it’s important to review your goals now and then. Why? 

Well, first of all, you wanna know how it’s coming along, right? Maybe you need to tweak something or help your kids to get their part carried out. It’s also good to remind each other of the goals you made as a family. Freshening up each other’s memory and getting that spark back to go for it again is sometimes necessary. It’s also a good time to praise your kids with their contribution to getting there together.

Achieving family goals

Now I know you must be thinking, is my family capable of setting and achieving the goals we set for our family? 

This is a matter of mindset I believe. True, everybody needs to be in on the idea alone of setting goals that benefit the whole family. So maybe it is best to work on this mindset first. 

Start with a small goal, like agreeing to have 4 family meals a week and eat them at the dinner table together. Talk about this lightly during dinner for instance, when you already have a cozy meal. During those family meals, you can gradually start talking about other goals. Don’t make it something heavy or emphasize too much on “setting goals”. Rather agree to do something as a family. Before you know it, your family is getting bigger things accomplished together.

Now let’s get started

Now it’s all a question of getting started. You know which goal you want to go after with the whole family. Let’s see what’s next.

1. Write your family goal down, so everyone can see it and be reminded of it
2. Agree to a deadline and write that on the family calendar and/or where you wrote down your family goal
3. Break up the steps and assign them to each family member
4. Set some family meetings to review your goal to where you’re at
5. Work and encourage each other to reach your goal
6. Enjoy and celebrate a goal achieved!!

One last thought

Setting family goals can bring forward some great teaching moments. Think about teaching your kids how to save money for something they wanna buy or do. They learn how to be responsible. And your kids learn to be appreciative of something they have worked for. 

If you would like to read more about setting and reviewing goals, check out these posts here on the blog and from other people.

• Successful Goal Setting, the What, Why, and How
• 4 Easy Questions You Need to Ask When Reviewing Your Goals
• Achieving Family Goals
• Set a Family Financial Goal