As a marriage and family counselor, I give out a wide variety of counsel to families and an even wider variety of suggestions for ways to reprioritize their family life above other things. I was recently meeting with a family that is in the middle of a huge family crisis. Many things are going wrong and they are far from being whole and healed, but one of my first suggestions to them surprised them almost as much as it surprised me. I suggested that they plan a beach vacation as soon as possible and that they get away as an entire family.
Quite honestly, I had never suggested to clients that they get away on a beach vacation before. In fact, it had never entered my mind until that day just how important it is that families have time together away from the normal routines of life. I have had the privilege of vacationing with my husband and children yearly for as long as I can remember, yet for some reason I had never thought to suggest this remedy to others. I guess I was perhaps assuming that all families took time for beach vacations.
The reason I suggested that this particular family get away on a beach vacation was that one of their most serious issues hinged...