Families in Crisis

All families experience crisis, just the same as every individual experiences crisis. Crisis in Chinese are the two symbols meaning danger and opportunity. What an interesting tidbit, no? To know that a crisis is indeed a danger of some kind, yet also an opportunity. A crisis in the family is different than an individual crisis, simply because the crisis is shared, and you are not the sole focus, but also others. One very popular model used to describe the steps through crisis are ABCX. A is the actual event, B is responses and resources of both or all people involved. C is the cognition, or how the event is defined, and then X is the total experience. Different families also may have multiple crisis going on, or have had a crisis in the past that changes how they react to the current crisis. Things like life experience, marital experience, being together, having outside help from a community or neighbors, and even perspective of life after death can affect how we respond to these crisis. So, what are some helpful things families can do to make the crisis easier to handle? Husband and wife being open and honest with each other. Having no secrets. Good parent/child relationships, lots of trust from both sides. Children knowing how to resolve arguments with each other in a loving, understanding way. Of course they would love each other, and spend time together. There would be reliability all around. So, how does your family react to crisis? Is there anything that is potentially harmful in the way it is handled? Perhaps you can sit with your family and make plans to make it better when it does come, because crisis will come. So come what may, and love it!