Summer Goal Fail

Our summer divided into 4 parts:

• Family Reunion/trip to Utah
• 5.5 weeks in Oregon
• Moab vacation
• Jason’s return

For months I had been planning that the 5.5 weeks in Oregon would be work time for me—time to get boxes and boxes unpacked, and if I was fortunate time to paint.  At the beginning of the summer I read a post on a blog about how this particular family makes summer goals every year.  Well, I thought, goals for the entire summer wouldn’t work for our family, because we’re not going to be around for the entire summer.  But goals for 5 weeks…I decided that was doable.

And that is why, the Monday after we returned from Utah, we had a family night about goal setting.  We talked about things we would like to accomplish during the next month, things that we wouldn’t normally have time to do during the school year, reasons that this was a good idea.  And then we set goals, writing down at least one goal in each area, and read them to each other.  It was great.  Even Tyler who was visiting, wanted to share his goals. 

That night I made little spreadsheets of everyone’s goals and hung them on the wall.

Where they were never touched, ever again.

No really, to be honest, Jenna probably did her goals for a couple of days because she is a remarkably driven child.  But the rest—not a single checkmark.  And it wasn’t that I didn’t try, or remind, or even bribe—because I totally did.  They were just Completely. Unwilling.

In fact a few times an ungrateful child complained to me that having the goals was too much like the regular school year, and didn’t I want them to be able to enjoy the summer???

 

In the end I decided that while summer goals might be a great idea, it just wasn’t going to work out in our home and it wasn’t a hill I was willing to climb, much less die on.  And I let it go.  But every now and then, when I walked by the wall and saw the spreadsheets still hanging there, it did make me kind of sad…

 

PS—I should clarify—I actually worked on my goals, and accomplished about half of them.  I just didn’t mark my paper.