Having a Family Mission Statement and Action Plan

Most of us who have families, devote our lives to them. We work hard to be the best spouse and parent we can be. When we started a family, most of us did not directly and actively think about why we want children or what we want to teach them.

It is easy to get swallowed by every day life and be the robot rather than actively living your life according to your own goals. We want to teach our children morals and values and to develop their mental and physical potential and sometimes this becomes an abstract objective rather than something that we have a detailed plan and focus on. A lot of us know generally how we want to raise our kids, but how many of us can sit down right now and point out exactly what our parenting objectives are and how you fulfill them? It is extremely helpful and life-changing to have a focused plan and a mission statement, just like companies do, to help you remember your parenting objectives and goals. Each family member working toward a solid and focused goal creates family unity and cohesion. It makes an atmosphere in which each family member can have a space to speak up and evaluate themselves and their daily life. It builds close ties and opens the path for strong communication. It makes parenting and childhood easier. Just like a company cannot be successful without a clear mission statement, a plan on how to achieve success and methods of facilitating that plan, a family will have a hard time and often feel stressed and overwhelmed daily when there is no clear and focused meaning to the day to day lives.

I am going to give you an example of a family plan that you can take with you. You can design it according to what works best for you. This is just an example of something I have found that has worked for a lot of my clients:

1. Create a Family Mission Statement. Write down what your objectives are and also what kind of atmosphere you want to create in your home. Cover any and all issues that are important to you. It is great to work on it together as a family after the parents have discussed what they want to write first. Use positive words -not negative ones. For example, say, "We speak calmly to each other" rather than saying, "We do not yell at each other." Write what your mission is. Things like having fun, supporting each other, allowing mistakes, talking about problems, honesty- these are all great things to include. Write what works best for your family.

2. Every Sunday night, cook and eat together. Discuss anything that each family member wants to mention. Talk about the week ahead and how to make it a good one. Examine how everyone is doing with work and school and also your relationship with one another.

3. For larger families: Every child, at least once a week, gets at least 30 minutes of alone time with parents after the others go to bed or early in the morning before the others wake up. Sometimes it will be with one parent, but every child gets it.

4. Every school morning have a one song dance session to wake everyone up. Everyday a different person picks the song.

5. Eat dinner together at least 4 times a week.

6. Every Tuesday night is mom and dad's at home date night. All kids will be in their rooms by 7:30, so parents can have a romantic meal together.

7. Every Wednesday night, either mom goes out with her friends or dad goes out with his friends. Each week alternate so that each has the opportunity to do so. Parents are people too and want to have fun.

8. Every Thursday is family game night.

9. Every Saturday night, mom and dad go out. Even if it is just walking in a park or sitting outside, mom and dad will have time together outside of the house without children.

This is just an example. As you can see, having a mission statement and plan really helps to create a healthy and cohesive family. To find out more, call today.