The new year is a great time to reassess the way that your family is functioning. It is also a great time to reassign chores, and make sure that daily life is going the way that your family wants it to. A great way to do this is hold a family council. The first family council of the year may be longer than normal as you change and plan for the new year. After that you can hold shorter ones a regular basis to make sure that the plans are being met. Here are five things you may want to consider addressing at your family council.
1) You may want to set some goals as a family. These could include everything from spending more time together as a family to saving money for a vacation or writing to a missionary on a regular basis. If you do not already hold family home evening and family scripture study on a regular basis, you may want to consider these as goals as well.
2) This is a great time to plan out any vacations for the next year. The earlier you plan, the more likely you will have a good vacation. You can decide on a budget, and allow your children to have some say in where you go. If they help to plan the vacation, they will enjoy it more.
3) The new year is a great time to reassign the chores that are done in the house. You can create a chore chart and have family members volunteer to do certain jobs or you can draw names out of a hat. You may decide to rotate through different chores on a weekly or monthly basis. You may also consider adding new chores, as your children become older and more capable of doing the chores.
4) You may want to discuss any changes that will affect the family in the upcoming year. This could include a new baby, a possible job change, or a child graduating and moving out. You could also address upcoming moves or changes in your budget. If you have financial goals as a couple, you could involve your children in these goals where appropriate.
5) You can also allow your children to bring up any issues that they want to address. One easy way to do this is to have a sign up sheet up on the refrigerator and allow your children to add to it the week before your family council.
You can find more tips by reading this Ensign article.
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Family Councils
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