Last evening I talked with the kids, while I made dinner, about goals for our home. Mainly, what goals they would like to be a part of for our household in 2015.
Defining "Goals":
Before my chat with the kids I asked if anyone knew what a goal is. Abigail wanted to answer but sensed I was looking for something a little different than what she wanted to say and decided not to answer. Peter piped up and said, "I think she was going to say something about scoring a goal like in soccer. But a goal is really something you work hard at [to achieve]."
Although I know over the course of the year these goals will change I think its important to start somewhere. We are starting with how to keep the home cleaner on a daily basis.
Abigail has stepped up and said one of her goals is to keep the kitchen/dining room floor clean. She will be sweeping the floor once a day after dinner. This will help keep crumbs cleaned up and dog hair out of the corners!
Aaron has chosen to make sure that the table is cleaned off before dinner. After school the table gets so messy with school papers, drawings, mail, dishes that I didn't get cleaned up during the day, etc., etc., etc.!
Peter's daily goal is to feed Cubby. This is a task that requires (at least during this winter season) to put on a coat, boots, and anything else to keep warm since our dog eats raw chicken backs which are only eaten outside for obvious reasons!
Now that we all understood what mom was talking about we were able to plan one goal for each child, a collective goal (keeping the living room picked up), and a mommy goal (dishes). I plan to set more but the conversation has been started and I'm excited to pick it up again when Seth can be a part of it.
Why Goals and not Chores:
I'm hoping that by using the word goal versus chore that they understand that we, as a family, are working for something great. We are working to live our lives smoothly. We want to work together as a family to achieve goals and live in, to sound cliche, harmony.
I can't take any credit for this idea of goals instead of chores. I got this idea from a blog I follow. (Which of course I can't find right when I need it!)
I also plan to write out Goals for Myself, Goals for My Faith, Goals for Our Marriage, Goals for Our Family. (Found on this blog) I love checking things off a list! I hope to put together some sort of fun pages or binder to keep myself excited about this! Then at the end of the year we can look back and see how much we achieved and changed, and expanded our horizons, and so much more!
I'll give updates as I put together this plan and ~hopefully~ follow through! I think it'll be pretty easy though because the kids are excited about it too! I want them to be encouraged, also, by these goals and push them a little more in all aspects of life!
So after we had this chat and all the kids were on board we ate dinner, and silliness ensued!
Defining "Goals":
Before my chat with the kids I asked if anyone knew what a goal is. Abigail wanted to answer but sensed I was looking for something a little different than what she wanted to say and decided not to answer. Peter piped up and said, "I think she was going to say something about scoring a goal like in soccer. But a goal is really something you work hard at [to achieve]."
Although I know over the course of the year these goals will change I think its important to start somewhere. We are starting with how to keep the home cleaner on a daily basis.
Abigail has stepped up and said one of her goals is to keep the kitchen/dining room floor clean. She will be sweeping the floor once a day after dinner. This will help keep crumbs cleaned up and dog hair out of the corners!
Aaron has chosen to make sure that the table is cleaned off before dinner. After school the table gets so messy with school papers, drawings, mail, dishes that I didn't get cleaned up during the day, etc., etc., etc.!
Peter's daily goal is to feed Cubby. This is a task that requires (at least during this winter season) to put on a coat, boots, and anything else to keep warm since our dog eats raw chicken backs which are only eaten outside for obvious reasons!
Now that we all understood what mom was talking about we were able to plan one goal for each child, a collective goal (keeping the living room picked up), and a mommy goal (dishes). I plan to set more but the conversation has been started and I'm excited to pick it up again when Seth can be a part of it.
Why Goals and not Chores:
I'm hoping that by using the word goal versus chore that they understand that we, as a family, are working for something great. We are working to live our lives smoothly. We want to work together as a family to achieve goals and live in, to sound cliche, harmony.
I can't take any credit for this idea of goals instead of chores. I got this idea from a blog I follow. (Which of course I can't find right when I need it!)
I also plan to write out Goals for Myself, Goals for My Faith, Goals for Our Marriage, Goals for Our Family. (Found on this blog) I love checking things off a list! I hope to put together some sort of fun pages or binder to keep myself excited about this! Then at the end of the year we can look back and see how much we achieved and changed, and expanded our horizons, and so much more!
I'll give updates as I put together this plan and ~hopefully~ follow through! I think it'll be pretty easy though because the kids are excited about it too! I want them to be encouraged, also, by these goals and push them a little more in all aspects of life!
So after we had this chat and all the kids were on board we ate dinner, and silliness ensued!
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