Family Life is about the people closest to you and the part you play in making your home a good place to be. You'll take on regular responsibilities, lead projects with your family, and talk about what makes families strong. It's Eagle-required and often one of the most meaningful badges.
Why it's worth it
Every family is different, and every family runs better when each person pitches in. This Eagle-required badge helps you see what you already add to your home, take on real responsibility, and lead your family in planning something together. Along the way you'll practice skills you'll use for life: keeping promises day after day, running a meeting where everyone gets heard, and thinking about what kind of adult you want to be.
Start this week
- Talk with a parent or guardian about which five chores you'll do for requirement 3, and start today.
- Make a chart for the fridge or a note on a phone to check off your chores each day.
- Ask your Scoutmaster for the name of a Family Life counselor, and contact them with a parent copied.
- Write a list of everyone in your household and one thing each person does that keeps things running.
Plan ahead: Requirement 3 means doing your chores for 90 days, so pick them and start first. Plan your projects and family meetings while the days add up.
Requirements · 7
Every official requirement and part, numbered to match Scouting America, in plain language. Sign off against the official wording (opens in a new tab) (updated 2025).
- Requirement 1
Make an outline about what a family is and go over it with your counselor. Explain why families matter to each person and to society, and how one member's actions can affect the others
Tip: Families come in many shapes. Write down what your family means to you and why families matter in a community.
For example: Families can be a parent and child, grandparents raising grandkids, two households, a big blended family, or foster family. Write what your family means to you and how families help a community, like caring for kids, elders, and neighbors.
- Requirement 2
List several reasons you matter to your family. Talk them over with a parent or guardian, and also with your counselor
Tip: Think about the ways you help your family and the things only you bring. Talk about it honestly with a parent or guardian.
- Requirement 3
List at least five regular chores or home duties and do them for 90 days. Track how often you complete each one, then tell your counselor how your chores affected your family
Tip: Make a chore chart for the fridge and check off each day. Starting early makes the 90 days easy to track.
For example: Five chores might be: unload the dishwasher, take out trash and recycling, feed the pet, fold laundry, and clean the bathroom sink each week. Track them on a chart and talk about how it felt around day 30 and day 90.
- Requirement 4
With your parent or guardian's and counselor's approval, choose and finish a home project of your own that helps your family. Then go over its goal and results with your family, then your counselor
Tip: Pick a project that helps everyone, like organizing the garage or planting a garden, and plan it before you start.
For example: An individual project could be organizing a messy closet with labeled bins, building a shoe rack, painting a room with an adult, or making a family emergency contact sheet. Plan it with your parent or guardian first.
- Requirement 5
Plan and complete a project your family takes part in. Afterward, talk with your counselor about these points:
Tip: Ask everyone for ideas and give each person a job. A family service project or outing can work well.
For example: A whole-family project might be planting a vegetable garden, cooking a meal from a relative's home country, sorting donations for a shelter, or planning a day trip. Give everyone a job that fits them.
- Requirement 5a
What the project was meant to achieve
- Requirement 5b
How each family member took part
- Requirement 5c
How the project turned out
- Requirement 6
Family meetings
Tips for this section: Keep meetings short and friendly, with a simple agenda. Let everyone speak, and write down what you decide.
Example for this section: Plan short family meetings with an agenda: take one or two of the requirement's topics at a time, like money matters or how technology affects your family, give everyone a turn to talk, and write down what you decide. Keep each one to 20 minutes and end with something fun.
- Requirement 6a
Talk with your counselor about how to plan and run a family meeting
- Requirement 6b
Write an agenda covering the topics below, go over it with your parent or guardian, then hold one or more family meetings on them
- Requirement 6b1
How following the Scout Oath and Scout Law helps your family life
- Requirement 6b2
The biggest dangers and addictions young people face today, such as mental health struggles, tobacco, alcohol, drugs, debt, or social media
- Requirement 6b3
Talk with a parent or guardian about how body changes can affect your choices as you grow physically and mentally
- Requirement 6b4
Personal and family money matters
- Requirement 6b5
A crisis in your family and who you can go to for support when one happens
- Requirement 6b6
How technology affects your family
- Requirement 6b7
Good manners and etiquette
- Requirement 7
Tell your counselor what you think makes a good parent or guardian and why, and share your views on a parent or guardian's role and duties in the family
Tip: Think about the adults who have cared for you and what they do well. Talk with a parent or guardian about it.
Where it can lead
- Family therapist or counselorHelps families talk through problems and work better together.
- Social workerConnects families with support like food, housing, and childcare.
- Early childhood educatorTeaches and cares for young children and works closely with their families.
- Family and consumer sciences teacherTeaches cooking, budgeting, child development, and life skills in schools or extension programs.
Ask yourself
- What do you bring to your family that no one else does?
- Which chore was hardest to keep doing, and what helped you stick with it?
- How did your family respond when you led a meeting or a project?
- What have the adults who care for you done well that you'd like to do someday?
- How has the way you see your family changed during this badge?
Good questions to ask a parent, guardian, or another adult you trust in your family
- What chores did you have when you were my age?
- What's something you learned about being a parent or caregiver that surprised you?
- What's the hardest decision you've made for our family, and how did you make it?
- What family traditions matter most to you, and why?
- How can I be more helpful without being asked?
Helpful reads
- Earning a merit badge, step by step, From picking a badge to getting the final signature: how to find a counselor, set up meetings safely, work the requirements, and keep your progress., Youth · Families · 6 min read
- Contacting counselors, experts, and organizations, Email and phone scripts, who to ask for, how to follow up, and how to say thanks, with a parent copied every time., Youth · Families · 7 min read
- Choosing your next merit badge, How to pick a badge you'll actually finish: start with what you care about, balance Eagle-required and just-for-fun badges, and make the most of camp., Youth · Families · 6 min read
For leaders & parents
- Remind Scouts to start the 90-day chore log early so it doesn't hold up their advancement.
- Be sensitive to different family situations and encourage Scouts to define family in their own way.
People & places that can help
- Merit badge counselor — Talk with them early; they can explain what's expected.
- Your parents or guardians — Your most important partners for the chores, projects, and meetings.
- Scoutmaster — Can help you stay on track and talk through any questions.
Pairs well with
Helps you earn
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Tips, examples, and questions are ideas from experienced leaders, not extra requirements. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.