When it comes to teaching kids about money, surveys indicate that most parents would rather not, so much so that they wait until their kids are 15 to start. This oversight may be generational; another poll indicates that only one in four American adults learned money lessons from their parents. The gap shows: America continually rates poorly on financial literacy indicators; 60% of Americans can’t cover a $400 emergency with their savings; and 61% of Americans don’t know how much money they need to retire. Surveys indicate that 80% of newly graduated teens rank financial pressures as either a “major or minor problem.” Stress about money is a huge problem in this country, one which parents presumably would like very much to help their children avoid. But how?

Research has shown that increasing income does grant most Americans some level of increasing life satisfaction and emotional well-being—but only up to a point. After that point, satisfaction and well-being actually start to decrease. The authors of the study speculate that although money is useful in paying for daily needs, repaying debt, and providing some basic “extras,” after this point, “people may be driven by desires such as pursuing more material gains and engaging in social comparisons, which could, ironically, lower well-being.”

You may focus on serving needs outside your home, you may focus on meeting needs inside your home, or you may also combine seeming disparate careers and gifts into an income-generating family “side hustle.” All reports indicate that the side hustle is on the rise, with over 40% of full-time working adults saying they have an income-generating job outside of their main career. A side hustle could be a great way to unite a family that may seem to be pretty different.

The work of children, Montessori believed, was their education—but education toward life, not education in a narrow, academic-based sense. And as it turns out, the family is the first place that such work begins. This should bring comfort to millions of parents this fall, who remain slightly panic-stricken at the thought of supervising their own children’s education in a more involved way due to continued school closures and remote learning. But the truth is that the first and foremost indicator of student success is how involved the parents are.

One benefit of COVID-19 has been the opportunity that increasing numbers of parents have to work from home. For many, the new arrangement could be permanent. Entrepreneur recently published a story on 17 big companies now allowing extended or even permanent flexible work arrangements, including Google, Twitter, Uber, Square, Zillow, and REI. Certainly, working from home has its challenges, especially for those with very young children. But according to a recent Gallup poll, 59% of Americans still want to continue to work remotely “as much as possible” after the pandemic is over. This is an incredible opportunity for parents to invite their children into their work world. And why would you want to do that?

How do modern families survive the daily tug-of-war? At FamilyWorks, we’ve carefully researched the daily needs and activities of families, and we’ve created a list of six key areas that we believe encompass what makes for a cohesive, strong family life. Those areas are: relationships, finance, health, community, spiritual, and career. For your family to retain its strength against intrusive outside distractions, these areas need their own focus and their own distinct goals, and they also need to be in balance with each other.

After your family has identified its mission and vision and started outlining a strategic plan, your next steps are to figure out what goals you need to achieve to accomplish your plan. Chances are, it’s going to take quite a few steps to get to your “Wildly Important Goal.”

Your strategic plan is going to include a number of different areas: your finances, your education, your children, your emotional and physical health and well-being. The first step toward achieving your family’s mission and vision is to identify what you need to do to get there. Focus on big-picture stuff right now

For us, innovation is about taking some of the best ideas from the worlds of psychology, business, systems theory, academia, and others and applying them to the family setting. Innovation is using tech tools to implement new systems and new practices in your family.

We are wired to need each other to fulfill our greater purpose, and we find that belonging and purpose first in the family. From earliest childhood, human beings experiment with belonging in the family unit.

Discover your unique family purpose, simplify decision-making, collaborate with a community of like-minded families, and integrate related apps and resources. Create a roadmap of where your family wants to go, and the specific steps you will need to take to get there.