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.