A Family Mission Statement

What, a family mission statement?!! Companies have mission statements and they understand the power of having a mission statement. Families can have mission statements too! A mission statement will create a powerful bonding between parents and children, between husbands and wives that simply does not exist when there’s no sense of shared vision and values. A clear sense of a shared vision and values enables you to hold each other accountable without conflict. It also enables both you and your children to self-regulate. But most importantly through a family mission statement you can let your children and or spouse know that you are totally committed to them, that you have been from the moment they came into your life and that the bond has never been broken and never will be broken and that nothing can happen that will ever break it. Below are three steps to help you develop your own family mission statement.

Step 1: Explore What Your Family is All About.

What is the purpose of our family?
What kind of family do we want to be?
What kinds of things do we want to do?
What kind of feelings do we want to have in our home?
What kind of relationships do we want to have with one another?
How do we want to treat one another and speak to one another?
What things are truly important to us as a family?
What are our family’s highest priority goals?
What are the unique talents, gifts, abilities of family members?
What are our responsibilities as family members?
What are the principles and guidelines we want our family to follow?
Which families inspire us and why do we admire them?
How can we contribute to society as a family and become more service-oriented?

Ground Rules
• Listen with respect
• Restate accurately to show you understand
• Write down all the ideas

Step 2: Write Your Family Mission Statement
I have listed examples below, however, I think it’s best to try to come up with you own! One suggestion is to:
• Give everyone ten 3x5 cards
• Everyone write ten words on each card, share the cards.
• Now, give everyone ten votes. The ten cards with the most votes win.
• Write a sentence using each word or write a paragraph using all ten words.


Step 3: Use It to Stay on Track
A family mission statement serves as a huge magnet that keeps attracting family members to the route that leads to your destination.

EXAMPLES:
The mission of our family is to create a nurturing place of faith, order, truth, love, happiness and relaxation, and to provide opportunity for each individual to become responsibly independent, and effectively interdependent, in order to serve worthy purposes in society.

If your children are really small, you might want to go with something really simple like:
We do not hurt others.
We do not hurt things.
We do not hurt ourselves.

Our family mission is to:
Value honesty with ourselves and others.
Create an environment where each of us can find support and encouragement in achieving our life’s goals.
Respect and accept each person’s unique personality and talents.
Promote a loving, kind, and happy atmosphere.
Support family endeavors that better society.
Maintain patience through understanding.
Always resolve conflicts with each other rather than harboring anger.
Promote the realization of life’s treasures.

Our family mission:
To love each other…
To help each other…
To believe in each other…
To wisely use our time, talents, and resources to bless other…
To worship together…
Forever.

Our home will be a place where our family, friends, and guests find joy, comfort, peace and happiness. We will seek to create a clean and orderly environment that is livable and comfortable. We will exercise wisdom in what we choose to eat, read, see, and do at home. We want to teach our children to love, learn, laugh, and to work and develop their unique talents.

Our family is happy and has fun together.
We all feel secure and feel a sense of belonging. We support each other fully in our seen and unseen potential. We show unconditional love in our family and inspiration for each other. We are a family where we can continually grow in mental, physical, social/emotional and spiritual ways.
We discuss and discover all aspects of life.
We nurture all life forms and protect the environment.
We are a family that serves each other and the community.
We are a family of cleanliness and order.
We believe that diversity of race and culture is a gift.
We appreciate the grace of God.
We hope to leave a legacy of the strength and importance of families.

Our family mission:
To always be kind, respectful, and supportive of each other,
To be honest and open with each other,
To keep a spiritual feeling in the home,
To love each other unconditionally,
To be responsible to live a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life,
To make this house a place we want to come home to.

Or....you could write a phrase that starts with each letter of your last name, write a poem, or make a piece of art...it could be anything! It's your very own mission statement for your very own family.


Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen R. Covey.