It was suggested at MOPS to create a family document and a family mission statement. It can help you really define the goals you have as a family. The purpose of this is that it can be like a road map for your family. You take it and review as you need to check where you are and where you desire you to be. I really felt inspired by this and I got together and wrote our "family vision". It got us talking about what our priorites are as a family- both in the long term and short term. We kept it short and simple. There aren't rules for writing these but I will show you how we wrote ours (you can read it yourself as well, it's posted below).
We decided we would review ours every few months and dedcided to do a set of yearly goals a long with a "big picture" idea of what we wanted for our family. We broke down our goals into:"marital goals, goals for our kids, and goals for the family as a whole". We kept it to things we feel we can attain this year and only did a few for each to give us a clear focus.
Then we wrote our "Family Mission Statement" essentially it's how we define the way we want to raise our children and grow as a family.
Lastly, we created a "Family Identity Statement". Who are we and what do we want to be? This can be written in a varity of ways- we were inspired by the MOPS programs. They suggested adjectives based on the letters in your name. We used that model but you can write it however you like.
I am really pleased with the results here and so was the hubster. It really helped us clarify our plans, talk it out, and gives us something to look at when were wondering how we're doing. I really love this tool. Not everyone needs this but it can be really helpful to take a few moments and discuss it. We spent about 30 mins writing this. Our plan is to come back in a few days and discuss which goals we want to accomplish and when and how we're going to do accomplish them. This continues the discussion and keeps it in our minds.
Is your family different from mine? Even if you are one person- you make up your family. Regardless of size or what you're family is like this is adaptable. I hope you try it, we really enjoyed this! I'd love to hear what your mission or identity statement is!!! See ours below:
Our "Nurrieum Identity Statement"