A Family Is a Team
Making Family Mission Statements Work
By Ashley Allman
Three key pillars provide the foundation
for a harmonious family: trust, respect and
teamwork.
Teamwork can be the easiest and most fun
to teach. Think about it… there are endless
opportunities for the family to engage as a
team.
The New Year brings a great occasion for
a team challenge. Instead of focusing on
individual ‘resolutions,’ families can create a
family mission statement: a united goal that
will get everyone working together.
Plan for Success
Choosing the family mission statement is
half the battle. It may take some time to find
a common goal. Start out by brainstorming
to come up with a list of possibilities. Make
sure everyone contributes at least one idea,
so each member of the family has a personal
investment in the process.
If your family is having a hard time brainstorming, here are a few ideas to get started:
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1. Serve your community: Set a goal to volunteer as a family at least once a month.
There are dozens of opportunities in
every community from picking up trash
at your neighborhood park, or serving
food at the local soup kitchen, to walking
dogs at the animal shelter.
2. Team Planet Earth: Assign your family to
an environmental cause. Pledge to bike to
work, school or soccer practice instead of
driving, plant a tree every month, reduce
everybody’s shower time by 2 minutes, or
plant a garden.
3. Food for thought: Make a change to the
way your family eats. You could reduce
the frequency you eat at restaurants, vow
to go meatless one day a week, eliminate
a junk food, or explore foods from a new
culture each month.
4. Money matters: Work together on a family budget, or a new financial goal. Save
more, donate more; reduce the monthly
entertainment expenses, or anything that
gets your family thinking about the value
of money.
Once you have a list, start narrowing down
ideas by crossing off anything that obviously
doesn’t work. Talk about the remaining ideas
and use the discussion as an opportunity to
examine your family values and share ideas
for how you can collectively achieve each of
the goals.