The day after New Years, we had our annual New Years Family Meeting at Starbucks*.
The night before DH and I worked up a tentative plan for 2009, and then, over coffee and cocoa and with kids, we talked about the future.
This was our second year discussing our plans for the year in a "formal" manner with the children.
Though I don't believe young children (or even older children) need to be involved in every decision - it seems that once they get to be a certain age they ought to be able to participate to some degree in the plans and discussion of a future that involves them too.
Our meeting took about 2 hours. We first went over our list from 2008 and talked about the things we did and did not do. Amazingly, there were only a few items that didn't get done (camping in a yurt, visit the Science Center, buy an LCD TV). I think going over the list from last year with the children, enabled them to see that we are serious about these plans and that things that are planned are more likely to happen. Some of the categories on our planning list that we discussed were: house improvements, homeschooling, travel, fitness, charitable giving, God & church, hospitality and specific plans for the children. The kids were encouraged to give feedback on all the topics discussed.
Even though we took time to make up our list and discuss details of each item - it is all done with the understanding that our plans may change...One thing we wanted the children to know is that "The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his path" (Prov 16:9) - meaning that these are just our plans and that God might have a different plan for us.
For more Work's For Me Wednesday Tips - head on over to Rocks in My Dryer.
The night before DH and I worked up a tentative plan for 2009, and then, over coffee and cocoa and with kids, we talked about the future.
This was our second year discussing our plans for the year in a "formal" manner with the children.
Though I don't believe young children (or even older children) need to be involved in every decision - it seems that once they get to be a certain age they ought to be able to participate to some degree in the plans and discussion of a future that involves them too.
Our meeting took about 2 hours. We first went over our list from 2008 and talked about the things we did and did not do. Amazingly, there were only a few items that didn't get done (camping in a yurt, visit the Science Center, buy an LCD TV). I think going over the list from last year with the children, enabled them to see that we are serious about these plans and that things that are planned are more likely to happen. Some of the categories on our planning list that we discussed were: house improvements, homeschooling, travel, fitness, charitable giving, God & church, hospitality and specific plans for the children. The kids were encouraged to give feedback on all the topics discussed.
Even though we took time to make up our list and discuss details of each item - it is all done with the understanding that our plans may change...One thing we wanted the children to know is that "The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his path" (Prov 16:9) - meaning that these are just our plans and that God might have a different plan for us.
For more Work's For Me Wednesday Tips - head on over to Rocks in My Dryer.
4 comments:
My DH and I have done our planning in the past around our anniversary in June. Now that we have kids January might be a good time to do it. That is something to think about.
This is great. I would love to do this when our boys are a little older. Thanks for sharing!
Really great idea! Thank you for sharing this. I like the idea of a plan for the year.
Great post....we do family meetings too. This year's meeting rocked!
Go read a little about it here.
http://queenieslittlekingdom.com/?p=1012
Post a Comment