Life is busy! If you are looking for examples of family goals, you are most likely experiencing the same crazy family routines that I am and feel the need to refocus and reconnect with your favorite people.

I was rushing around the kitchen, preparing an after swim snack of nuts and fruit when I turned too quickly and tripped over my toddler. He hit the floor hard and let out the most offended scream. Ugh! It was totally my fault, I was trying to do too much in a short period of time.

I picked my blonde-haired cutie up and dried his tears, taking a moment to savor his cuddly little body and kiss his soft cheek.

I need to slow down.

But how?

Why Have Family Goals and How do You Create A Family Goal?

Does this sound familiar? Are you rushing from one activity to the next? Is your to-do list impossible? Are you so focused on providing opportunities for your kids and meeting their needs that you have strayed a little from what is most important as a parent?

Not only is life no longer enjoyable to you, but you are missing precious opportunities with your family. This concept hit me hard when I lost my daughter. There is nothing more important than surrounding yourself with the people you love and spending time with them.

It’s time to refocus and that is why we make a list of family goals!

I explain about setting realistic goals in “How to Set Realistic Goals for All Areas of Your Life” and how to prioritize to relieve the overwhelmed feeling.

This list of family goals includes all areas of family life including:

• family goals
• marriage goals
• health goals
• self-care goals
• spiritual goals

Examples of Family Goals: The Need for Quality Family Time

The importance of quality family time does not need to be discussed. You already know this. What does need to be discussed is HOW to meet that need for quality family time!

With the pressures of society and the expectations we place on ourselves, it is easy to let quality family time slip off the calendar. Hopefully, these family goals examples will give you some ideas.

Eating Dinner Together as a Family

Eating dinner together as a family helps you connect at the end of a busy day. It should be a relaxed environment in which everyone is able to express themselves and decompress.

I will tell you the truth. This is not always the case at my dinner table! One child is complaining that they don’t like the food while another is spilling his water. The other two are talking at once and I can’t understand a thing either is saying and my husband is complaining about everyone’s lack of manners.

On top of it, we are usually eating too early or too late due to sports and other activities.

Not the bonding experience I’m going for.

If this is your season of life, it’s time to get creative. Your bonding does not need to take place around the dining room table. What about:

• Reading books together (even my 12 year old loves to sit next to me while I read chapter books aloud)
• Watch silly YouTube videos together
• Learn a new skill together
• Sit around and talk- I know this sounds crazy, like you talk to your kids all day long, but I have found that when we all sit together with no goal at all, they open up with what they’ve been thinking about.
• Take advantage of car rides- sing songs together, play word games, chat about life. I tend to be thinking about what’s for supper or remind myself for the fifth time to mail in that payment, but honestly, you are stuck in your vehicle with your favorite people. Make the most of it!
• Have an afterschool snack or coffee break together.
• “Making Quality Time with Family a Priority with a Busy School Schedule” has many more ideas!

Family Bucket List

A family bucket list is a great way to connect with your family and one of my favorites of all the examples of family goals! We love to make one every May for the summer. I sit everyone down in a family meeting and the ideas pour in.

They don’t have to be big or fancy ambitions. Most of ours are simple like “go strawberry picking” or “camping”.

What adventures are in your area? New restaurants, parks, ice skating rink? Get creative. Sometimes the best experiences are the simple ones.

Game and Movie Nights

Family goals examples don’t get more popular than game and movie nights. If you don’t do this, I highly recommend you work it into your schedule.

Our Friday movie nights came about because I was so exhausted at the end of the week that I didn’t want to cook (I actually dislike cooking anyway) so we’d pick up pizzas on the way home and eat while watching tv.

But it turned into something so much more- a true example of family goals. The kids look forward to it every week and don’t hesitate to turn down invitations to do other things because we can’t miss movie night 🙂 I hope it stays like this forever!

Examples of Family Goals: Marriage Goals

Yes, marriage goals are important because like any relationship, if you don’t foster it, you will ruin it. Your marriage is the foundation of the family and the base for examples of family goals.

My husband and I are in a season of life in which we are both busy and preoccupied and if we do not make a deliberate attempt to spend time together, it will not happen.

It is important for us to not only have quality time together but to keep our goals and ambitions in unison. Life is hard and we are often being pulled in different directions. We need to stay on the same page and travel this path together.

Date Night for Parents

Yes! Family goals examples should include alone time for mom and dad.

Do you remember when you were dating? Where did you go? What did you do? I smile when I think back to those days because it was so much less complicated. My greatest concern was what to wear.

Date night is for parents and marathon marriages too!

We were married for less than two years when our first baby came. Our pride and joy, and within 8 years we added four more beautiful children to our family. It has been a very busy season of life for both of us and at times we neglected each other. I will not lie, the bulk of the neglecting has been my fault.

Date nights have strengthened our relationship. Whether we get a sitter and go out or make time in the evening after the kids have gone to bed, it’s helped us connect during the crazy days. I wish I had made date night a priority a long time ago.

Tiffany from Hope and Joy in Christ has some great posts on date nights.

• What is Date Night for Married Couples and How to do it Right
• The 3 Big Mistakes Most Wives Make on Date Night
• Limitless Date Night Topics for Married Couples

Effective Communication in Marriage

The “C” word! I have to smile because I always think of marriage in association with communication. Of course, you need good communication in all relationships, but the male/female one seems to be where the greatest struggles lie.

Over the past 14 years I have learned a thing or two about effective communication in marriage. Perhaps one or two of these examples will make it on your family goal list this year.

• Never assume your spouse knows what you are thinking.
• Do not assume that you are accurately reading their thoughts as well.
• Leave each other notes. I don’t mean love notes (those are a good idea too). You both have many responsibilities and are focused on them. It is difficult enough to remember your own “stuff”. Don’t expect him to remember it too. Send him a text “don’t forget to pick up toilet paper on your way home” or “Remember you are picking Caleb up from swim team at 6” later in the day rather than getting huffy when he forgets between morning and evening.
• Get alone and talk. Yes, date night is fun for reconnecting, but not for discussing things like money, kid issues, future plans etc. Schedule time alone each week to discuss issues that are important to your family. Staying on the same page will avoid fights and keep your family running smoothly. Examples of family goals should also include finances and the less “fun” but necessary priorities.

Examples of Family Goals: Healthy Family Goals

Do you have health goals for your family? In the past, I’ve been too vague with ours. It always looks something like this.

1. Eat more vegetables
2. Get myself into shape
3. Have everyone drink more water

These goals are positive, but they are way too vague. Setting specific health goals for your family, especially those that can build on each other throughout the year, is an awesome example of family goals.

Fun Family Fitness

“A family that prays together, stays together” is true but I like to change it to “A family that plays together, stays together”.

Fun family fitness goals are all about playing together as a family. This is not only healthy for your family physically, but also emotionally. It’s just as much about working your muscles as it is about connecting and bonding.

Here are a few ideas to get you started. Which of these examples will you add first to your family goals?

• Get outside together. This can be taking a walk around the neighborhood, exploring a state park, skiing and sledding, playing at the park, fishing etc. The ideas are endless. Schedule it into your week once or twice (depending on the season and family schedules).
• Play sports together. We are a soccer family. Most summer evenings will find us on a soccer field, cheering one member of the family on. And do you know what the other evenings often find us doing? Playing soccer with just us. The teams are never even because I always get stuck with the baby lol but we enjoy the exercise, practice, and sharing in a sport we all enjoy.
• Join the YMCA. We have a really nice one in our area. The kids take various lessons, I sometimes use the exercise equipment, and having access to a gym is wonderful. As homeschoolers, we often use the gym during the day when everyone is at work/school and we have it mostly to ourselves.
• Join a gym. If your kids are older, they may enjoy working on equipment with you or next to you.

Healthy Family Eating Plan

I have a love/hate relationship with healthy family eating plans. I always have high aspirations and regularly fall flat on my face. This year I have narrowed it down to small steps and specific goals. I have found that I get less opposition from my people if we go about it this way. Here are a few examples that might work for your family goals also.

• Meal plan. Every time I turn around I see something about meal planning and do you know why? It is a lot easier to eat healthy if you are prepared for it. Now, I’m not telling you to have a strict “we must eat what’s on my schedule” attitude, but by shopping for and prepping healthy foods it will make it much easier.
• Veggies at every meal. For us this means leafy greens in morning smoothies.
• Provide healthy snacks.
• Prepack meals on busy evenings to avoid the fast-food lane.
• Drink ______ cups of water a day.
• Remove all candy and cookies.
• Bake with natural sugars.
• Remove chips and crackers.

Your list of goals for your family is going to look different than mine, I just wanted to show you how to break those goals down into more manageable steps.

Examples of Family Goals: Self-Care Goals

“You can’t pour from an empty cup” is one of my favorite expressions. Why? Because I have felt empty many times and it did not do me or my family any good.

Now, let me specify that I feel this expression means first filling your cup with Christ so that you can pour into your family what they need without running dry yourself. Self-care begins with your relationship with God.

Spiritual Self-Care

Spiritual self-care seems like an oxymoron. Self-denial is a running theme through Jesus’s teachings, isn’t it?

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” (John 12:24 NKJV)

Jesus shows us by example how to fill our cups.

 “and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.” (Luke 5:15-16)

“And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.” (Mark 6:46)

“Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:12)

A few ways you can fill your cup are:

• Read your Bible every day.
• Dedicate time to pray.
• Read a short devotional. Check out “God is the Light of the World: 31 Day Devotional”
• Listen to inspirational music.
• Listen to uplifting podcasts or sermons.
• Join a Bible study at your church or online.
• Begin a daily Bible reading plan such as the free one at Kingdom Bloggers.

Other Examples of Self-Care

I think many people envision a day at the spa, complete with massages and pedicures, but that is not the self-care I want to emphasize. So what are some examples of self-care?

• Do something you enjoy every day. This will look different to everyone. Maybe you enjoy reading or crafting or long walks outside. Whatever it is, work it into your daily routine.
• Spend some time alone. As moms, we are in constant demand. As wives, we are in constant demand. And these are only two areas of our life in which we have abundant responsibilities. Sometimes for me, the “input” becomes too much. I cannot process everyone talking to me and making requests. I have to get away from it.
• Take a break. Have a cup of coffee, take a long hot shower, sit down and enjoy your lunch rather than chowing it down as quickly as possible. Allow yourself time to recharge your battery several times throughout the day.

More Examples of Family Goals

It’s your turn! Do you feel ready to have a family meeting and make some goals together?

If you need more examples of family goals (or organization ideas), check out these posts!

How to Create a Homeschool Schedule that Works

How to Create an Easy Housecleaning Schedule (You Will Stick With)