What do you want your family to do? What do you want your family to be like and strive for? It’s important that your whole family is on the same page with all this.

The way Jessica and I do this is to start with 8 categories of family values:

1. Family time
2. Activities
3. Health
4. Financial
5. Education
6. Travel adventures
7. Character
8. Spiritual/faith

Once you have these pinned down, it’s time to create a family mission statement.  Pick words or phrases from your family values and put them together into 3-5 sentences as a family mission statement.

From these will come family goals.  Create 3-5 family goals that align with what you have in your family values.

If you're a parent and you're looking for some new ideas and strategies, join our community on Facebook @theplanningparent.

Free  family vision printables are available at www.planningparent.com/familyvision and you can follow us on Instagram.

Remember - take a deep breath. You do matter. You're doing a great job.

Music credit: Sky Running by Tanager Kid

A Podcast Launch Bestie production

Our guest today is Jessica St.

Pierre.

She is a wife and has three kids ages seven, 10, and 12,

uh, two, or those are boys.

And one is a girl.

Jessica actually works with me and for many years 11 to be exact, she

was a full-time stay-at-home mom.

Um, so she brings with us lots of knowledge and experience in raising her

kids and what we were talking about today.

So thank you so much for joining us, Jessica.

Thank you So much for having me, Crista.

So today we are talking about family, vision planning.

So creating a family vision plan for your family, um, to really just figure out

what, what do you want your family to do?

What do you want your family to be like?

What do you want them to kind of strive for?

Um, and when we look at family vision planning, It's really important that your

family is on the same page with this.

And that's really why I like this idea is because it's, it's, you're

getting all of the input from your, from your whole family when

you're putting this plan together.

So, first question, why do we do a family vision plan?

Jessica, what are some of your thoughts on this?

Why, why is doing a family vision plan important?

I think my kids are getting a little bit older, they

are having more opinions on things that they want to do and how they

want to contribute to the family.

And when they were little, it was easy for me to just say, Okay, we're going

to do this and we're going to do this, but now they like grumble at some of the

things that, that I come to them with.

And so I just think it's so important and fun to hear their

ideas and like integrating that into our family and what our plan is.

Yeah, I agree.

Um, I feel like, especially, cause my kids are going to be five and

seven and they are at that age where they do have that opinion.

And so I think it, gives them the ability to have that voice.

And because they're having that voice and they have that, they

have that opinion, they have ownership over what's being created.

Right.

And so it's like this almost like this different sense that, that they are

helping create it, which puts, you know, their buy-in for actually contributing

to it and doing the things that are in the family plan a lot more than if it

was just something that was told to them.

I think that creating a family plan also kind of just creates this like

team in your family, where it gives you guys the ability to work together,

to achieve these goals and have these, these family values that you want.

And this mission statement, all of these things that we're going to be

talking about to just all come together and be able to have everybody on the

same board with what's created from it.

Another thing that I think is super important, especially when you have

younger kids , and maybe there's like, you have a wide spectrum, right?

You have your youngest who's seven, and then you have your oldest who's 12.

And you know, maybe in the past, the younger have not had that opinion and

being able to voice what they want.

Um, and so I think that this actually gives those younger kids,

the ability to say what they want.

Right, to make sure that they are heard, um, and to know what they're feeling,

because, you know, sometimes especially if they're younger, they might not be as

opinionated and they might not be able to share it, but this is a really kind

of open forum to be able to do that.

I totally, totally

agree.

Okay.

So next.

So what is a family vision plan?

Well, a family vision plan is going to be different to every family.

Um, it, it really is this plan that you guys are creating that

can be made up of things such as.

Family values, a family mission statement, goals, and all of these

different aspects to it that, that we are gonna talk about today.

When it comes to creating a family vision plan, like we said, it's important

that your whole family is on board with this, because if you're just, if you go

and you create it, and you're saying, here's the family vision plan for this

year, and then your kids are like, But I didn't get to put any input in this,

you know, I, I don't have a say in this.

And so this is why it's so important that you guys create this together.

Um, because then it makes sure that everybody is on board

with what is included in there.

So the first thing that we're going to talk about is family values.

And just as just one thing real quick is the family vision plan that we are saying,

this is something that we do, right?

This is what Jessica and I have have worked on.

And this is what we do.

It doesn't mean that this is what you have to do, but what this does

is this, this, this helps you just kind of have a base to start with.

You can absolutely use our format and how this is done, but you can

figure out what works best for your family, given your situation.

I will tell you that we are going to have free printables that we're going to be

sharing with you for this to help you do either you can do all of it from there,

or it's a starting off point for you.

So the first thing that we want to look at is family values.

Okay.

And with family values, this is an opportunity for you to go through when

you're creating this with your family.

And we have eight categories of family values for you to choose.

Right.

You're going to pick stuff from each one.

And so let me just go through these with you, and then we're going to

go through each one individually.

So we have family time activities, health, finances.

Education travel adventures, character, and the last one is spiritual or faith.

And so when we, when we talk about this and when you're creating this with your

family, the first one is family time.

And so what we're going to do is we're going to give you specific

ones that Jessica and I use and kind of going back and forth and just

sharing, like here's some ideas.

What are some examples of family values that would be included

with family time for you, Jessica?

So I think for us, our family chose mealtimes of.

Eating together.

We do mad, sad, glad at dinner.

And it's something that the kids love just talking about their day

and having that individual, like one-on-one time talking about

themselves and also one-on-one dates.

My husband and I taking each of the kids out on one-on-one dates.

Those are some things that, our family has chosen as family time.

Okay.

Um, so for us it's having game night.

Once a week, that is something that I enjoy playing with my kids.

And I, I mean, my kids could play games with me every single night.

if we had the time, but just having that time together, another

one that is, I think, a big one in a lot of families is having

down technology time.

So like not being on social media, like, especially like, if it's like in the

evening after dinner, like having the technology off and just being able to

actually spend quality time together.

Okay.

Number two activities.

So what are some activities that you guys do in your

family

We love to go mountain bike riding.

So we have a local trail nearby that all the kids suit up and we ride the bikes

from our house and they just have so much fun that, and we live by the beach.

So, uh, beach, sunset dinners are huge hits in our, our house.

Okay.

I like that one.

So for us I love.

Skating like at a skating rink with skates on.

And that's something that I started doing with my kids this past year.

And I mean, they love it.

You know, they love that time that they get to spend with me.

Our phones are off and we are just having fun and dancing to the music.

Another activity that I want to do more with my kids is some type of

family like dinner and a movie night.

Whether we do it once a week, whether we do it a few times a month, but it's

really just where they get excited.

And they know that when we're doing this, it is, it is family dinner night.

And so it's going to be, you know, more than just the average, you know,

dinner being served and us, you know, talking, it's going to be something

that's going to be more planned.

Um, and just because I do want them to have that anticipation, right.

That kind of fun aspect to it.

Okay.

Let's talk next about health.

What kind of family values do you have from a health perspective?

I think because we are a busy family of five and

each kid is in multiple sports for us just having those home cooked meals

and meal, planning them out and just making sure that the kids are getting

good, nutritious food, rather than.

Picking stuff up a few nights a week, because we're just on the go.

Yeah, I absolutely get that one.

That's going to be a huge one for me too, is, is meal planning.

Um, that's going to go into my personal goals.

And you know, one thing is having my kids actually help me do some meal planning,

where they get to choose what meals they want to help contribute to that meal.

Planning I think is, is big.

Because again, they got to choose it.

And so hopefully it'll get them to eat better, um, or at least eat

the meals that they're choosing.

Another one for me from a health perspective is I really just

want to get my kids out there.

Right.

I want them to see like a healthy lifestyle is just part of life.

You know, I don't want them to dread having to put down

their tab and not get outside.

And so I want to do more hiking with my kids.

We have so many places in Southern California to go hiking that

is just, you know, something that I see us doing a lot more.

I've tried to do it.

I've sometimes I'm scared because you know, I, I don't have a

lot of experience in hiking.

And so I'm, I'm concerned from that aspect of, of taking my kids out

to these trails that I don't know.

So it's, you know, working my way up to the harder ones, I guess.

Just having that healthy lifestyle, you know, I just want that to kind

of be second nature to them that it's just like, that's how we live.

Right.

Rather than being on the couch and watching TV or playing on their tab.

Let's talk about financial next.

So what are some ideas from a financial perspective that you guys have?

So I think over the past few years, the kids have gotten

really good at saving their money.

And, one of the things that we want to focus more on this year is being

more generous with our finances.

And so not just you know, mom and dad being generous, but the kids being

generous, them saving a portion of their money and giving it to a charity of their

choice or somebody that they see a need.

So I think for us financially is just trying to just work as

a family, to be more generous.

Okay.

I like that.

And we are going to have a whole nother podcast on this.

So I'm very excited for that, but there is just having kids money management, right.

And, and being able to understand, you know, more how money works is again,

my kids are a little bit younger.

Um, and so it's, having an allowance and then what to do with that allowance.

How does it get broken?

And one of the things that I do want to focus on that is going to be

part of that allowance that's coming in is how they separate out that

money and being able to put it in.

I think you use jars.

Um, so very similar kind of concept of.

But having that charitable aspect.

Right.

Because I am very big with supporting different organizations locally,

especially when it's relating to young kids, and just helping them.

And so I think.

As kids, they can see this.

And they have a lot of feelings towards it, especially if it's kids that are sick.

And I know that they want to, because they see me doing so much.

And I think that that would be something good for them to see and

just start kind of having that aspect.

so I agree with you on that one.

I like that side when it comes to being generous.

Um, and so for us would be that charitable.

Um, okay.

Number five is education.

Do you have any family values here for education?

Yeah.

So when talking to the kids, one of the things that they love that

we do as a family, as we read of family book in the evenings.

And so our spin on education for this year is getting the ideas of the books

that the kids want to read and me reading.

To them.

So some of the ideas that they had were Harry Potter, the Narnia series.

So we're still narrowing down which, which series we're gonna focus on this.

Yeah.

My mind similar to, is I want to get my girls reading more.

And so I don't make the time.

And if it's, it's not my calendar, it doesn't get done.

And this is why I like to plan things out.

Um, is I want to go, I want to take them to the library more.

The hours are so awkward from my schedule and it's just making sure that I have

it on my calendar where I can take them.

Um, because I do, I like that aspect.

I like the reading side.

Um, my older is really starting to read more so it's, it's exciting

to see or start reading these books with chapters in them.

And so I feel like going to the library is going to be really great for.

And then, and then picking out those books for evening reading too.

Is that something that I want to get better at and that we're

doing together and that they look forward to it because they do look

forward to, um, that nighttime routine as, as reading before bed.

And it's something like we're running late and they're not listening,

that's like the first thing that just.

Right because I'm tired.

After a long day, I want to go to sleep.

I want to make sure that I'm making the time and I have it on there to be

able to do that, reading with them.

Cause I think that's important.

Okay.

Okay.

Number six, travel adventures.

What do you have for traveling adventures?

So we have a trip that was planned prior to creating

our family vision for this year.

And so for us, it's having the kids come up with the things

that they want to do on the trip.

So we're going to Hawaii, we already know that one wants to go horseback riding.

One wants to go snorkeling.

And so it's just taking the things that they want to do and making them.

Fun with their activities rather than me just planning it out.

Yeah, no, I like that.

I never really thought about it that way as giving them the option about asking

them what they want to do on the trip.

Because again, my, you know, my kids have been so young it's, you know,

I'm always planning the trips right.

And figuring out where, where to go.

And so that's one thing that I have done with them is what

do you want to do this year?

And so it's kind of getting ideas, cause it's, maybe it's not just that like one

big trip or two trips over many, your family takes, but it's maybe what are

some weekend trips that you want to do?

Or, you know, little, little things that you have here that you want to go visit.

Camping is one of them.

Um, you know, we have a lot of really great aquariums in California.

And so for me, it would be taking a trip to an aquarium that's a

little farther than I would be okay.

Doing an a day trip.

Um, and then we stay at a hotel and we just make the weekend out of it.

So it's, it's really kind of planning those, um, those

adventures with my kids and maybe.

Steal that from you, where when we do our big trip is asking

them, what do you want to do?

And then giving them an option to do an activity too.

I think that's a great idea.

Okay.

Character though.

So this is, you know, this I think is so important of just really sh you know,

how do you want your family to be, and, and coming up with these different ideas.

So what do you have for.

So the two words that we nailed down for this year in character

was integrity of doing the right thing no matter who is looking and being brave.

Um, I have a seven year old that will not swim.

And so we are going to do hard things this year and we are going to be brave.

I like that.

Brave is one for me.

Um, I find with, with my girls and my older one is just, you know, sometimes

she's a little more shy and it's, you know, a little more nervous.

And so it's, it's really kind of having that, that brave side to her.

Um, so that's one of ours.

Um, another one for me is positive.

So I am generally a very positive person and I want them to kind

of have that aspect where they're seeing things on a positive side,

rather than always being negative.

Right.

If something happens or they lose a game, I mean, it's easy as that.

Cause my four year old or almost five-year-old, she gets so upset when

she loses and it's just, you know, then we can't play any more games.

And so it's just trying to figure out how to get more positivity.

Right.

And just kind of have that, keeping them up from that positive.

The other one is kind you know, if I, if I say something the most

throughout the date to my kids, it is, you know, please behind are you

being kind, is that a kind thing to do?

So I'm, I'm always talking about that because I think just having

that, like that kind heart can just can do so much for them.

Okay.

Last one we have is spirituality or faith.

So what do you have for, for that one?

We came up with love for other people.

So just showing love in every single aspect and having love coming.

First, first and

Okay.

Yeah, I love that.

Okay.

So for me, there's a side of meditation that I think it's kind

of just this like peacefulness.

Um, and I have like these cards that I've bought on Amazon for my kids on,

you know, just kind of taking some time and, and kind of calming down.

And so it's kind of sharing that with them.

Um, and then just for myself is trying to do it more consistently because I find

that I just react better to things when I'm able to, to do that more consistent.

So we went through all of our family values, right?

So all of these things that we're kind of working towards, we, you

know, worked out with the family.

These are aspects to each of these different topics.

So the next is creating a family mission statement and to create your

family mission statement, it can be.

As long or as short as you want it to be, it is specific to your family, but

an idea of how to create your family mission statement is to take the

words or phrases from what you've just created from your family values and put

those in sentences together, and maybe three to five sentences to be able to

have this family mission statement.

So Jessica, you have one that you can share with

us.

Yeah.

So we came up with, uh, we want to spend more quality time together.

We will be generous, brave fun.

Do the right thing.

Show love to others and treat.

Perfect.

I mean, it's so simple.

And especially with young kids, like, you don't want it necessarily

to be this huge, long thing that the kids were like, what does that mean?

Right.

It should be simple to be able to just look at it.

And I think that was.

Okay.

So you had your family values done.

You've done your family mission statement and next is creating goals.

So the idea here is that you want to create maybe three to

five family goals that align with what you have in your family.

Values, right.

These are these ones that you've either you have these, uh, words for, or these

phrases or things that you want to do.

Jessica, do you have any goal examples you can give and I'll share one or two of

mine.

yeah.

So, um, some of ours is, having mealtimes together as a family, a home cooked

meals, at least five nights a week.

And doing one-on-one dates we have a pretty crazy schedule.

So one-on-one dates at least one child once a month with both my husband

and I and another family goal is we are all going to teach my youngest

to swim no matter what it takes.

Yes, that's a good one.

Okay.

I like that.

And for the family date night, one, this is something that Jessica and

I have talked at length about, and we are going to be doing another

podcast episode on this one.

So wait for more on this one.

I think it's a super exciting topic.

It's something fun.

The kids love it.

Um, and I think it just means so much.

So we're going to talk more about that one.

Okay.

So for me and my family it's going to be to hike once a month.

Okay.

So we're going to have hiking on there from that health side.

I'm going to plan out library visits once a month.

We're going to plan one weekend trip once a quarter, right?

So it's to the aquarium or it's, you know, somewhere fun or something

that we're doing as a family where we get to go spend time together.

Um, so when you're doing these, you want to make sure you write these goals,

that they are specific, um, to whatever these values are and that, you know,

the kids can see what these goals are because you're going to work towards.

And in the principles that we're going to give you for this, we're actually

going to give you, a goal sheet for you to be able to write down your goals.

And then you are going to get this activities, calendar where

it basically lists out the months.

And then you can put, you know, what activities that you're going to be doing

to maybe help you just figure out from a goal perspective, where do you want

these activities or things to be in your sheets, so that you have an idea and

that you can see it, and then it's over.

And so like for me, I would go through and just pick like once a month here's

the month or the weekend that I am doing that we were doing hiking.

Right.

And so that I have it every single month on this date, and then I'm going

to put it in my calendar because once it's in my calendar, then I know I

will do it because it's there and nothing will get scheduled around it.

So we have all of this stuff done for the family vision plan, right.

You've created.

The values, the created the mission statement and you have these goals

and you're going to put together this activity calendar the best way

to check in and see how is it going?

Right?

You created this family vision plan is to have a family meeting.

And so it really just depends on your family and what you think

would work best, but it could be something that you could do.

You could do it once a quarter.

I mean, you know, it, I mean, you might even want to do it once a week.

It just depends on what your family schedule is, how old your kids are,

you know, your family, you do what's best for you guys, but you want to

have a meeting where everybody gets back together and you go through

and see how everything is going.

Right.

Do these values still align?

Are we working towards these values that we have?

Are we still.

On the same target with our mission statement, right?

Is this, is this still what we're working towards?

And that we believe as a family, does anything need to be tweaked?

Does anything need to be changed?

And then how are we doing with our goals?

So in this one, it's going to be, can any of the goals get checked off?

Maybe you were able to do something.

And so it's, you know, really kind of looking at that aspect of it,

maybe adding a new goals, right.

But it's being able to go and just check in to see, because if

you put this whole plan to get.

And you don't do anything for it and you don't look at it again, you know,

what was the point of doing it besides it was this really great idea, right?

So you want to make sure that you check in with it and kind of just,

you know, figure out where are we at.

Okay.

And then the last thing is when you put all of this together is

you want to have it in your house somewhere that everybody can see.

Right.

So that it's up all the time.

That if, you know, if you're eating dinner or it's in the kitchen or

you're having breakfast, like the kids are going to see, they're like,

oh, I need to work on being kind.

Or I need to work on being generous.

Um, you know, they can see this on a daily basis and then, you know,

it's always there reminding them.

Okay.

Okay, so that is it.

This is your family vision plan.

You have the resources, make sure to download those.

You should be able to get the link in the show notes to be able to download

the free printables to be able to put your family vision plan together.

Okay.