With the end of the year rapidly approaching and a new year dawning, I thought I'd talk about GOALS this week and what goals we set for our family and children. A couple months ago I created a list of 101 Things to Do in 1001 Days and from that list, here are my family goals:1. Finish reading A Mom After God's Own Heart. completed 11/1/07
2. Finish reading Shepherding a Child’s Heart.
3. Read/print all of “Raising Godly Tomatoes”. completed 11/27/07
4. Read Babywise.
5. Read Bringing Up Boys.
6. Finish watching parenting video and take notes.
7. Read a book to children every day.
8. Plan one fun family activity every week for 1 month.
9. Take vacation to Colorado.
10. Get new family photo.
11. Go to Vermont.
12. Go to Long Island.
13. Go camping.
14. Find play group for Eli.
15. Go an entire month without any TV.
16. Establish special time with each child daily.
17. Create list of specific rules for Eli. (will help us be consistent)
18. Go 24 hrs without computer.
And to that list I would add:
19. Create set "Bible time" with children.
20. Volunteer somewhere or do something for a neighbor as a family.
It's a good mix of parental goals, fun goals, and family challenges (no TV). But above all we always seek to achieve Biblical goals such as these:
* Salvation for children.
* For children to have the ability to live in fellowship with God to support daily growth in the spiritual life.
* For your children to have inner happiness, the peace of God that passes understanding, and great inner joy that doesn't depend on the details of life.
* For your children to have respect for authority.
* Teaching your children about the production of divine good, the lifelong production of "gold, silver, and precious stones" rather than "wood, hay and stubble". (this includes a life of witnessing)
I'm all about having lists of goals. Long-term goals, short-term goals. I love lists, and setting goals focuses your life on having purpose and being productive with the time and gifts God has given us.
So what are your goals for your family this year? And what do you do to teach goal-setting to your children?
Previous Family Focus topics: (it's never too late to comment)
* Jesus vs. Santa
* 12 Days of Christmas
* Preparing for Christmas
* Thanksgiving
* Bible Reading
* Fun Fall Activities
* Nutrition
* Meal Times
* Halloween
* Your Neighbors
* Family Worship
* TV Time
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to tell you a few things about Babywise. A lot of people will actually get MAD at you for using it! At least in my experience, and heaven forbid, you give them a copy! :o) We found that it really does work. However, I didn't start it until the girls had gained back up to birth weight. My OBGYN told me at my six week check up that Claire could sleep 6 hrs. straight or more if she weighed 10 lbs. She was already sleeping 6 hr. stretches by that time and that night she slept 8 hrs. I can go into more detail about what methods I used and how I varied from Babywise in some ways. If you want to know, I will email you about it! I would be glad to help! I used this with both girls and they both slept a 6hr. stretch by 8 weeks of age! :o) Let me know if you want the info.
Blessings,
Julie