Family Time: Vacation Etiquette for All Ages

Make your vacation perfect for your family and those around you by embracing good manners

Family vacation means time away from the normal grind of work and school, so set aside the cellphones and focus on spending quality time together. (Fei Meng)

Staying with relatives, visiting a theme park or resort, taking a road trip or cruise ship—either planned or impromptu, the best family vacations have some key elements in common. Good behavior leads to great memories.

Enjoy Responsibly

The main rule of a family vacation is to make sure you and yours aren’t a nuisance to others. It’s great to be excited to be on vacation with the entire family, but that’s no excuse to forget manners while around others.

If staying with friends or family, this means being respectful of others’ belongings, so no unauthorized “borrowing” of toys, bikes, or other gear. While at theme parks, museums, or other public venues, children need to be polite, saying “please” and “thank you,” and resisting the urge to run or yell. Parents need to require their kids to behave, rather than shrugging it off as “they’re just having fun.”

Be Helpful

If your vacation includes you and yours staying as guests of your family or friends, pitch in with the chores; with more people in and around the home, trash will pile up faster along with dirty dishes. Repay the kindness of the hosts by helping to clean up after meals, walk the dog, go to the grocery store, and any other tasks that need to be done. The best way to ensure future invitations is to not leave everything up to the hosts—don’t treat their home like a hotel where they are the staff.

Lastly, don’t forget to send a handwritten thank you note no later than two days after returning home.

Hotels Aren’t Playgrounds

If you’re staying at a hotel, the kids must know that they are to respect the other guests, which means no loud games of tag, running up and down the hallway, starting ice fights by the icemaker, cannonballs into the pool, riding the luggage carts anywhere in the hotel, or overly rambunctious behavior at the complimentary morning buffet or while dining in restaurants.

It’s natural that the kids are excited to be staying in a hotel, but a big part of raising them right is teaching them to respect those around them.

Turn Distractions Off

The entire idea of a family vacation is to get everyone away from the normal grind of work and school, which means not feeling the need to immediately pounce on the phone if it rings. Just like Mom always said, “If it’s really important, they will call back.” Let incoming calls go to voicemail, and plan to look at texts later. This goes for parents and kids alike.

This rule also applies to games; encourage the kids to look around and enjoy their surroundings, taking fun photos or videos and making memories. Make meal time a “no phone zone” so you can all talk and share favorite parts of the day.

Short-Term Vacation Home Rules

Respect the neighbors; don’t play loud music or host wild parties after dark, especially on weeknights when they need to get up early and go to work. Ignore this rule late at night and you may end up meeting the local police enforcing the community’s sound ordinance.

Don’t make a mess; just because it’s a rental property doesn’t mean you need to leave wet towels all over or food out where it may spoil before the cleaning staff arrives. If you damage anything, advise the owner or manager asap; they’ll discover it after you leave, so it’s best not to surprise them or hope they won’t notice—they will.