How to Avoid Family Events

Fill up your calendar to avoid family events.

Spending time with family can be a fun and rewarding experience. However, sometimes tensions between individual family members or conflict within the family itself can make attending family events less pleasant. While permanently avoiding attending family events can create further discord, there are times when avoiding an event is best for everyone. There are a few ways to skip a family event that can maintain family harmony and protect the feelings of others.

Instructions

1. Know the schedule in advance. If a family event is coming up, find a legitimate reason why you will not be able to attend. The reason can be simple, such as a work function, sports event or volunteer function. Let your family know the reason why you will not be there and express your regret over not being able to attend.

2. Create a schedule that conflicts with the occasion if the family events are recurring. This can be accomplished through participation in sport teams, music, art or voice lessons, or anything that happens on a regular basis.

3. Get conveniently sick if the family event is a one-time occurrence. Very few people want to get sick, so if you let the family know at the last minute that you have the stomach flu or something equally contagious, chances are that you'll be excused gracefully.

4. Use your children as an excuse, if necessary. Explain that your child is not feeling well, is acting especially shy lately, is busy with school or another function or is having problems behaving in crowds. Realize that these are all temporary excuses and should only be used on rare occasions.

5. Try to be honest. If there is discontent or conflict with other family members, calmly explain to that person and the rest of the family that you would prefer to avoid being around the family until the issue is resolved. Then work to resolve it so that you can rejoin your family and enjoy the next get-together.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember that honesty really is the best policy.

References

• The Tyee: "How to Avoid a Code Red Christmas"
• Moving to an Apartment: "Top 5 Ways to Avoid Family Fights During the Holidays"