From New Zealand 2007年7月，ニュージーランドへ移住してきました。ニュージーランドでの日常生活についてつづります。

familyは奥の深い単語です。ネイティブとのやりとりをいくつか貯めておいたのでここに記録しておきます。
以下，緑字がわたし，紫字がネイティブによるものです。

A: I'm looking forward to Friday.
B: Why?
A: My family is going to the beach. = Everyone in the family, including the speaker.
B: Sounds like fun.

A: Hi, Jack. Are you going somewhere on your summer vacation?
B: Yes, my family is going to Hawaii. = Everyone in the family, including the speaker.
A: Sounds like fun.
 
Man: I usually have lunch at a school cafeteria. But yesterday, I went to a Japanese restaurant with my friends. Today is my brother's birthday, so my family is going to an Italian restaurant for dinner. = Everyone in the family, including the speaker.
Q: Where is the man's family going for dinner today?　（以上，英検の問題から）
In here, 'the man's family' includes the man as well, right?  Absolutely, yes.

But my dictionary (ジーニアス英和) shows an example sentence: 'All my family is [B.E. are] early risers.' and explains that: Usually, 'my family' doesn't include 'me'.
100% WRONG!  "My family" virtually always includes me. "My family and I are going to the beach" is technically not correct (although sometimes said). A person is so integrally included in the word 'family', that you have to forcefully separate yourself from it: "I went shopping while the rest of the family went to Disneyland." Note, a man can say, "I took the family to the beach," meaning he initiated the activity - since he still accompanied his wife and kids it would sound strange if he said, "I took the rest of the family to the beach."

結論：my familyは自分を含みます。

One other thing about 'family'. Most Japanese fail to realise that a 'family' has to include at least one child. If you're married but don't have children you're not a family, you're a 'married couple'.

ポイント：familyは少なくとも１人の子どもがいることが想起されます。

さらに，辞書の例文にもある，次のような"家族の人数"を言う文についても聞いてみました。

There are four people in my family.
Considering the low divorce rate in Japan, it’s surprising that Japanese insist on talking about the number of people in a family. In the English-speaking world we like to assume that a family has both a mother and a father, or at least did have at some point. Therefore we pretty much never say, “There are four people in my family.”

結論：英語話者は言わない。

ここニュージーランドでも，初対面の自己紹介などで，家族の"人数"を言うのを聞いたことがありません。また，中学英語でありがちな，How many people are there in your family?などと人数を尋ねることもないですね。たいていfamilyという言葉を使わず，Do you have any brothers or sisters? / Do your parents live in Japan?のように具体的に聞かれます。