1. A mission will bring you to a clear understanding of how you want family life to unfold.

2. It will serve as a reminder of who you are as a family.

3.  It allows you to live your family life with a vision of why you started a family in the first place and where you want it to go.

4. It lets your children know that you are completely committed to them and to family life.

5. It tells each member and the world, “This is how and why we exist as a family. We have a unique purpose for being together.”

6. It helps all the members of the family see the family as an entity and not just as separate individuals sharing a household and each going their own way. As your children grow and start gaining independence it will be even more grounding for them and for the family as a whole if everyone has a clear vision of the family’s mission.

7. It will give everyone the confidence to step out into the world with a strong sense of who they are and where they come from. A family mission statement helps build a sustainable bond between family members that can help foster a lifelong connection.

8. It will serve as a reminder to each member of the family that you are all representatives of the family — when you are together and when you are apart.

Click here to download your own Family Mission Statement Workbook.

Check out the interview I did with Nicole at Being Savvy Austin which is a site for parents of preschoolers.

It’s kind of become a mantra of mine “don’t forget to breathe”. It’s the first item on My Book‘s to-do list. It’s what we do as a family every night before we have dinner and after we have our “gong”. It’s what I tell the kids when they’re freaking out or hurt or sad or confused. It’s what I try to remember for myself when I’m having those same feelings. Breathe, breathe, breathe. It always feels so good.

What I was reminded of yesterday is that with the breathing comes the pausing. I was faced with a mini-crisis, over the phone, and I leaped up from where I was sitting and headed immediately for the door. Fortunately I was with Carrie who stopped me and said, “Woah! Slow down there sister,” and pulled me back from panic and gave me back my seat at the table. “Take a breath. Pause for a minute and figure out what you need to do.”

So I slowed down. I sat down. I breathed a few deep breaths. And I paused. And from right there at the table, and with my phone, and a few deep breaths, I was able to tackle the problem and have it solved within 30 minutes.

Perhaps you heard my exhale.

What I learned was that with the breathing, which I am so wont to profess as a sort of end-all, be-all, cure-all, comes the necessary pause.

Come on. Everybody take a deep breath. And feel the pause that comes with it.