What’s Your Mission?
How to Create a Family Mission Statement

Happy Tuesday everyone!

At this point, I think we have all kicked on the heat, even if it was just for a little while, had a nice warm cup of spiced something, and pulled out that cozy blanket! For our family, this is a time of year when we tend to spend a bit more time together because the kids are not outside as much. It's cooler in the evenings and it gets dark so much earlier that we end up spending more of the evening in the living room than we do in the yard. As we cuddle up on the couch this season, I plan to introduce a new topic to the kids. I would like to talk to them about creating a mission statement for our family.

This might be something that you have heard of or it may be a totally new concept. Either way, I love the idea! Most companies, especially large ones, have a tried and true mission statement. It is what guides their business. A mission statement tells the world what a company does and what its purpose is. It can tell a company’s goals, standards, and core values. A mission statement can help guide the decisions that a company makes.

Here at Wealthy Kids, we would like to apply that to our personal lives and teach our kids how to do it too!

Think about how valuable creating a mission statement for your family could be for your kids. In my opinion, it could almost be a guide for every member of the family. It could be something that truly defines what your family is, and is not, about. A family mission statement can define the values of your family and tell kids what is and isn’t okay according to your family standards. It could also define a goal for your family to accomplish together.

As a Wealthy Kids Academy parent, you know that this mission statement probably won’t be the only one that your kids write so why not give them a little practice?! This is a great way to teach kids how to picture and define their vision, future plans, and purpose for a company, a business, a goal they may have, or in this case, themselves and their family.

Another added perk is that family mission statements are the result of a collective effort. They should serve as a mirror reflecting the goals and ideas of the entire family, contributing to a strengthened sense of togetherness. This unity, which can be created through the process of crafting a mission statement together, can make for respectful problem-solving and greater mutual acceptance among family members.

Last, mission statements can empower families to identify behaviors that contradict their core values. By doing so, they enable that family to make conscious choices to stop unwanted behaviors, prioritizing the new goals that were established in the mission statement.

So, how do you create a mission statement for your family?

1. Pick an evening when you know you’re going to have dinner together or another time when you know the whole family will be together. Try to turn off the distractions and have a true chat with one another.

2. Ask the kids what they think your family is all about. Ask them about what they think your values are and should be. Ask them what makes your family unique, how your family should work, etc. Let them know your thoughts about those things as well.

Some good questions to ask may be:

How do we want to treat each other? What is our purpose? What makes us unique? What do you think is really important to our family?

Be sure to take notes on everything that all the members say and make sure everyone gets to contribute.

From there, you can take a look at the list and decide what your values actually are.

Is there a common thread? Maybe discipline is something that is important to your family. Maybe truth and integrity seem to be mentioned a lot. From there narrow down the list and combine similar statements.

3. Now, put it all together.

This is how our family mission statement turned out…

To be a Fulmer means
 To serve God and others. Fulmers have love, brotherhood, and friendship. We are open and truthful with one another. Our goal as a family is to spread God’s word and His love, travel the world together, give generously, create generational wealth, and teach others to do the same.

This makes me one proud mama, wife, and woman.

We had a brief chat with the kids about using this statement as a guide in their lives. We explained that if they are questioning a decision they can refer to our mission statement. If it seems to go against our values in the statement, it’s probably not a good decision!

This took us about 30 minutes to make together. It will take us a lifetime to perfect!

Have fun with it and enjoy the time together.

Love,

Amanda

P.S Don’t forget to display that Mission Statement for all to see!