7 Examples Of Family Goals & Using A Family Journal To Reach Them

Have you ever had a family friend tell you the examples of family goals that their family has accomplished, and you think, “How did they find the time to get them done?” It’s easy for families to get caught up in what has to get done regularly. School, homework, chores, sports practice, meals, music lessons, art classes, parents’ jobs, yard work, walking the dog…the list of what needs to be accomplished on an average day could go on and on. How can you accomplish something new as a family?

This is where family goals come in. 

What are family goals? Family goals go beyond simply wishing your family could accomplish a certain task. They are specific things the family agrees it wants to achieve together that are discussed, written down, and made time for. 

Examples of family goals include short term goals - those that can be accomplished in a day or a week - and long term goals - those that need a month to a year to accomplish. Both should be included in your family goals planning.

Using SMART Goals

To ensure the types of family goals your family sets are reasonable, The Children’s Center suggests setting S.M.A.R.T. goals. This means the goal should be:

Specific: When goals are specific, it’s easier to achieve them. 
Measurable: Define how you know the goal will be met.
Achievable: Make sure the family has the resources to achieve the goal. It may be challenging, but it should not be impossible. 
Relevant: Does the goal excite everyone? Does everyone benefit from it?
Timely: Set deadlines. Make sure they include both short term family goals and long term family goals. 

Use a Family Journal to Help Reach Family Goals

Recording family goals is important. Some families use whiteboards or chalkboards to write down goals. Those are options, but it’s easy for them to get smudged or erased entirely. A permanent option is to use a family journal. A journal can hold your family goals all in one place. It can be a record of the goals your family wants to achieve. A journal can also be a record of goals that have been met - something whiteboards and chalkboards can’t do. 

Our Family Journal is an undated, bound, durable, hardback book designed for kids and their parents to use together. It can be used for a family goals journal and much more.

What are some family goals and objectives your family can write in their Family Journal? Here are seven designed to bring order and clarity to your family and your goals. 

7 Examples of Family Goals

1. Try a new vegetable. When thinking about short term goals for family meals, this is an easy one to set and an easy one to accomplish. It’s also more specific than simply saying, “We’re going to eat healthier.”
   
   Come up with a list of vegetables never prepared at home. Narrow that list down to one vegetable to add to your week’s menu. This can be a recurring short term family goal. When you’ve reached the goal of adding Brussels sprouts, you can choose to add beets next week.​
2. Eat a certain number of family meals together each week. It’s not always possible for every family member to sit down at all meals. But, eating together is important. According to The Family Dinner Project, family meals are “good for the spirit, the brain and the health of all family members.”
   
   While most people think of dinner time as the ideal family mealtime, family meals can be breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The important part is to set a goal for the number of meals shared.
3. Learn a new family game. If family game night is getting stale, it’s time to add a new game to the rotation. Ask each family member to suggest a game they’d like to learn how to play, and then narrow it down to one game that everyone can agree on.
   
   Like trying a new vegetable, this can be a recurring family goal. Once one of the suggested family games is mastered, choose another game from the other suggestions.
    
4. Add a device-free night once a month. Gaming systems, computers, tablets, and smartphones are useful for communication, education, and entertainment. But, sometimes, a digital detox is good.
   
   Set a goal to have a device-free night once a month (or once a week). Make sure the goal is achievable by creating a list of other things the family can do that night such as playing games together, reading, doing crafts, or writing letters to relatives who live far away. 
5. Add a new fitness exercise. The goal “exercise more” is not specific enough to be achievable. Your family should define a specific exercise to do together.
   
   For example, your family could add an after-dinner walk three times a week along with a time or distance component to the walk. You can set the goal to be something such as “around the block” or “20 minutes.”
6. Volunteer as a family. Finding a way to give back is a family goal that teaches community responsibility and gratitude. This goal should be well defined.
   
   Your volunteering family goals ideas can include service such as time cleaning up trash at the park each time you go there to play, collecting coats to donate to a shelter, or visiting people in nursing homes who usually don’t get visitors.
7. Family vacation. Set a goal for going away for a family vacation. Decide where you’ll go, when it will happen, and how it will be paid for.
   
   While kids don’t need to contribute financially to a family vacation, it’s good for them to learn that vacations cost extra money and that the adults need to put a little money away regularly to pay for them. 

By setting and accomplishing short and long term family goals, kids will learn how to set and achieve goals, how important their input is to the family, and responsibility. The whole family will end up spending more time together, too.