Family Vacations: Danger in Sight

Family moments can be very enjoyable, but they can also potentiate conflict and become a pressure cooker. Vacations can be one of these times. Family members spend more time together doing the same activities, which may not be a custom. On top of that, having to reconcile different individual interests and tastes, which is often not part of the routine.

As much as the intent is an approximation, communication difficulties, generational conflicts, secrets, or other family problems can manifest more easily at these times, with plenty of free time, making the environment more fertile for quarrels and resentments. It is not uncommon in these opportunities for people to find that they no longer recognize each other in relationships, especially couples, whose incidence of post-holiday separation is quite significant.

Relationships need care every day and not at specific times or when they are worn out. It is very important that before planning a family vacation trip, you should consider whether the intention is to repair something in the family relationship or to mask a conflict, because if so, the risk of backfire is very high.

Tips:
1- Negotiate some possible points of contention pre-vacation preemptively;
2- Try to create family living spaces systematically as a routine, even if every two weeks; < 3- Do not create high expectations on vacation as a magic solution to problems in relationships.