One of our family traditions is to set summer goals every year.

On the Sunday afternoon at the end of the school year or in the first two weeks of summer, we all sit together around the table, give everyone a small sheet of lined paper, and work on our goals for the summer.

The girls always know in advance that we are going to do this, so they have a few days or weeks to think about what goals they might want to set.

Here are two things to know about setting our summer goals:

1. These summer goals are kid-driven. We don’t choose goals for them, although we might help them brainstorm if they ask. Summer seems like a time to explore your interests and think about what you want to accomplish and learn. We want these summer goals to be fun and engaging, not heavy and burdensome.
2. These summer goals are quite modest. We have no rewards for reaching them (except for their revenue goals, which I’ll talk about below), there’s no punishment for not reaching them, and we don’t have strict control over them. Again, we want summer goals to be exciting, not like an anchor that ruins the summer.

After everyone lists their goals, we go around and everyone shares the goals they want to share (usually it’s everyone, but you don’t have to do this – if you want to keep some private, you’re more than welcome).

The only goal everyone has is to make money. We help each girl choose a number she feels is reasonable to make over the summer (ranges from around $250 with our 9 year old to over $2000 for our 15 year old).

At the end of the summer, we host a fun family outing (usually a nice dinner out and pedicures or facials or something like that) for everyone who has reached their income goal.

Here are some of the goals we have set for ourselves this summer:

Some of my 9 year old son’s summer goals:

• Be able to perform a hands-forward jump on the trampoline
• Make dinner with mom 3 times
• Being able to throw the rope in wake surfing
• He reaches 80 words per minute when typing

Some of my 11 year old son’s summer goals:

• Swim 50 seconds for 50 meters freestyle
• Learn to wake surf on the trick board
• Do 10 minutes of daily ASL practice

Some of my 13 year old son’s summer goals:

• Complete a coding course and get your ears pierced
• Being able to do a 360 on the surfboard
• Beat all swimming times from last season

Some of my 15 year old son’s summer goals:

Some of my summer goals:

• Catch up on my reading goal on Goodreads (I’m currently 19 books behind!)
• Replace our front door (it’s in terrible shape, with peeling paint and bubbling texture)
• Clean the dryer vent (I did this a few years ago and unscrewed and cleaned the entire vent system)
• It immediately starts a new puzzle every time I finish one
• Stay up to date with all the videos from my trip (I have about 4 to go right now)

Everyone hangs their goals where they can see them (in the closet, on a mirror or something) and then about once a month during the summer, we review our goals and see how everyone is doing.

Sometimes goals are achieved early, some are changed, and some are eliminated.

I feel like so many people have negative experiences with New Year’s resolutions or goal setting, and my goal is to make my kids understand that goals are to help you be clear about where you’re trying to go and to improve your life, not to be something that makes you feel ashamed or that can’t be adjusted as your life changes.

Have any questions about our summer goals? I’m happy to answer!

If you liked this post about our family’s summer goals, you might also like these other posts: