20 Family Goals for 2020 Reviewed

This year I set us 20 family goals for 2020 instead of New Years Resolutions. Needless to say I set about these goals not knowing what was in store for 2020! Having Covid-19 come into all our lies has meant priorities and opportunities have been different, somewhat limited but not impossible to still achieve. In fact several of our goals where made easier to achieve due to having more family time.

I’m going to go through each of the 20 family goals and evaluate how we got on.

20 Family Goals

1. Visit Another Country – We had ideas of visiting Holland or France camping this year. We made the decision to not book a holiday away and instead have a staycation. After lockdown 1 we took the decision to camp in South Devon followed by a camper van tour around Cornwall. We had the best two weeks and was definitely a highlight to 2020 that we will be very grateful for, such wonderful memories were made and documented over on my instagram.
2. Take Mini Breaks – We were fortunate enough to have two mini breaks at the start of the year pre Covid. One to London where we celebrated my brothers 50th and visited the London Transport Museum LTR and took a trip on the Thames Clipper to get around and sightsee, and another to stay at Swinton Bivouac, a wonderful treehouse in the Yorkshire Dales. These were both in February and set us up for the next few months of not leaving the house! I hope that mini breaks will return in 2021 but we have since not taken the risk of booking due to uncertainty with the tier system and the increasing prices of staycations.
3. Slow Down And Look Up – Oh my goodness, this is one of the main silver linings of lockdown. Our daily walks allowed us to discover more on our doorstep and appreciate nature and look up!
4. Kids Help Out More – This is one that I’m really glad to say we have made progress on! Not only to relive the pressure put on me to keep the house organised but to teach the kids more life skills. Having 6 months at home meant we all had to muck in. The kids now strip and re-make their beds every week, tidy and clean their own rooms, do compost and recycling runs and help out at mealtimes. For the past 6 weeks they have had new responsibilities in the form of our new cockapoo Rusty. They all help out to walk and care for him. I think we could work on giving the younger two more responsibilities so that could be worked on for 2021!
5. Print Photos out and make albums – I have not achieved this one. It always seems like a mammoth undertaking and there are always other more important jobs to prioritise! I’m not sure I will add this to 2021 as I might just set myself up to fail it again.
6. Camp out More – We camped out a few times over lockdown in the garden and then camped in Devon for a week and also a few campsites on the return journey. We would love to visit a few local sites next year all being well.
7. Learn a new Craft – This is something I haven’t had time for sadly. I was inspired after a wreath making last year to do more crafty things. Having little time to myself this year has made this tricky. I have however done so much kids crafting and throughly enjoyed finding a bit of a niche in my social media with my early years crafting that I’m taking that as a win!
8. Try New Foods – I think we’ve made progress here. The kids now definitely eat a number of different meals than a year ago. We can definitely expand on it further with some more Asian and Mediterranean inspired food but small steps at a time.
9. Do more for charity – Daisy inspired the household this year when raising money for the Koalas in Australia who were affected by the terrible bushfires. Her Scout pack ran a table top and bake sale and raised over £500. I think we could definitely do with getting our heads together in raising money for other charities.
10. More home Learning – This one is definitely a case of be careful what you wish for! Who knew that I would end up being a teacher to 4 children ranging from 3 to 14 this year. After an over enthusiastic start to Lockdown learning I quickly discovered that teaching isn’t really my thing but I persevered and kept to a steady routine of school home learning most mornings and I feel pride in the fact I achieved that.
11. More Frugal and Less Waste -This is one that I felt we achieved at times this year and then at times not so much. We were really mindful of waste and frugality over lockdown when supplies were in short supply and we had to be inventive with what we had. Since then we may have slipped a bit more. I think sticking to a weekly meal plan has really helped with this.
12. Make Eco Switches – Soaps have been chosen over liquid shower gels, Dougie now also has a shampoo bar. We did invest in a yoghurt maker to reduce plastic but we have ditched it recently out of convenience. We have been growing our own sprout seeds . We have cut down on our cleaning chemicals and made better switches and have used an EcoEgg
13. Enjoy Our Own Garden More – Never before have we been so grateful for our garden. The kids spent about 4 months of the year playing in the paddling pool and we invested in a new wooden treehouse for them. I would love to make more of the vegetable patch as our crops were a bit sparse this year and I would love to have a few chickens but we shall see!
14. Family Fun Nights – This is something we haven’t done that much. I think spending so much time with the kids during the day meant that come the evening I needed a bit of peace. it’s just a bit exhausting having 4 children of various ages that once the little two are in bed we all end up just wanting to relax in front of the TV! We have had a couple of fun card games over the Summer and a few outdoor chimnea evenings to remember. No doubt we’ll have a few board game nights over the Christmas holidays.
15. Complete a Jigsaw – I nearly achieved this and didn’t quite finish it. It seems like such a good mindful activity to do but I’m just not good at setting aside time for it. My mind drifts elsewhere and I just can’t focus on it.
16. Be More Patient – Over the first lockdown this was certainly put to the test and I’m pretty sure the kids would say I was lacking it at times. Ask the family!
17. Smile More – Again I’m not sure I have!
18. Listen More – I have really tried to do this and think I have done alright at listening to others more.
19. More Evening Walks – Yes we have all done this and now we do this regularly with Rusty!
20. Celebrate More – This year has been all about looking and finding ways to celebrate the little things to keep us all going, from clapping for keyworkers, celebrating VE Day, Chinese New Year or the kids having a Teddy Birthday we have found ways to celebrate things!

There it is, our 20 family goals and my evaluation of them all! All that is left to say is Happy New Year to all my lovely readers. I hope that 2021 brings about a change in many ways for us all.