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 on the fact that the father of the family, loving as he was, was a workaholic. He spent nearly eighty hours working each week and hence his wife and children felt very neglected. He was under the impression that they were thankful for his provision, which they were, but even more than provision his loved ones wanted his attention and affection. So I suggested that he take two weeks off from work and that the entire family of six go on a beach vacation.

A beach vacation is great because it gets you away from the routines of life. There is no need to talk on cell phones, check emails, or be running here and there every evening to attend meetings or events. A beach vacation is the perfect getaway for couples and families that need to relax and be undistracted in time together. They can spend days on end simply enjoying the beach, the water, and lazy time together. There is perhaps nothing as therapeutic for a family than extended time together. This family took my advice and scheduled a beach vacation to Mexico just weeks after our appointment. They returned from their two week beach vacation and were full of laughter and a sense of reconnection. They told me that they planned to take a two week beach vacation each year because of how great it had been for them.