With the start of the New Year, many people decide it’s a good time to make resolutions or goals for themselves. This year, my family decided that along with our individual goals, we would also make a few family goals that surrounded getting outdoors. A few that we agreed upon were:

• Planning a family camping trip. Since having Miles—who will be 2 in a few weeks—we’ve enjoyed cabin camping as a family, but we have not been tent camping. 
• Lucas, my 8-year-old and I decided that we’ll run our 5k together in the spring. This had been a plan we had for last year, but it didn’t end up working out so we will make sure to achieve this goal in 2014.
• We also want to spend more time in Upstate New York again, hiking and enjoying the outdoors.

While making our family goals, we found that following a few simple steps made the process easy and fun.

1. Get the kids involved in the brainstorming process. The first thing we did was to write all of our ideas down, no matter how big or small. It made the kids feel like their thoughts and ideas have value and that they are just as important as everyone else’s. This step was a lot of fun for us and it gave me an idea of the types of things that Lucas would like to do.
2. Narrow your list down to a few small goals that are measurable and attainable. While making a goal like, “get outside more often” is great, setting a goal such as, “go on one family hike each month” is much easier to keep track of. 
3. Identify specific steps you may need to take to achieve your goals, or items you may need to purchase. In our case, we will likely need to purchase some new camping gear, so we wrote those items down.
4. Display your goals where everyone can see them, or better yet make a poster as a family that includes drawings and a list of your goals. It always helps to have a visual reminder.
5. Be flexible and make adjustments to your goals if you discover that you need to along the way. It’s okay to make changes if you find out that you need to—which is quite possible when your goals involve children. It’s also good to show your kids that being flexible with goals can be a positive thing.
6. Lastly, once you reach one of your goals, celebrate! Acknowledge everyone’s effort and recognize the achievements you have made as a family!