Mom Ends Family Vacation After Less Than 24 Hours Due to Bratty Kids—Too Harsh?

The internet is divided after a mom confessed that her kids’ bad behavior prompted her to cut a family vacation short and take everyone home after less than 24 hours

It’s kind of a given that, even on a fun family trip, kids will fight and misbehave. And what parent hasn’t threatened to “turn this car around”? But one mom actually followed through, cutting her family’s vacation short after her kids wouldn’t stop misbehaving, and now the internet is divided over whether she made the right choice.

The mom took to Reddit’s always-entertaining “Am I the A**hole” forum for a verdict.

“My husband and I have 3 kids, 9M, 8M, and 3F. The boys have been driving us crazy. They fight like cats and dogs. We’ve had countless talks with them about respecting each other, to no avail. I understand sibling rivalry but it’s gotten to the point it’s disruptive to us all, every day,” she wrote. “I already told my husband last week I wasn’t sure if the vacation was a good idea. My husband shut me down pretty much immediately and things went ahead as planned.”

AITA for cancelling vacation less than 24 hours in due to my kid’s behavior?
byu/vacationslayer238 inAmItheAsshole

She continued, “First of all, the 3.5 hour car ride was (predictably) hell. Boys fighting and riling each other up the whole time. Husband and I kept trying to reassure each other that things would be better once we got there and they would be too excited to cause trouble. We were wrong. They had so many reminders of what not to do once we got to the rental house…so they do everything wrong from the get go.”

She explained that the boys broke every rule she set: putting their shoes on white furniture, running in the house, throwing chalk in the pool. The 9-year-old even ran away from the family in an unfamiliar place because he didn’t get his way. That’s not just misbehaving; it’s dangerous.

At the end of her rope, mom made a choice.

“We finally go to the beach and they are frankly being brats. Refusing sunscreen. Fighting over toys. Pushing their luck repeatedly going farther and farther out in the water than we told them to. Cursing,” she wrote. “By the time we got back to the house, it was around dinner time and I was fed up. They were totally ruining it for everybody. Nothing had worked and I told my husband we needed to go home, for the reasons mentioned above, mainly that they needed to see a REAL consequence. My husband still insisted it would get better. I put my foot down and told him that I didn’t even want to be there at that point so either I was leaving, or we all were. He got super pissed and told me it was ridiculous and unfair to our daughter. I actually agree with him but saw no other choice at this point. Of course when I tell the kids they immediately burst into tears and are begging to stay, promising they will behave.”

To make things worse, Grandma took the kids’ side.

“My mother, who came with us, was also near tears. She thinks her precious grandbabies do no wrong. She argued with me too, begging me to “just let it go” but I refused to budge. So, we left, less than 24 hours into a 4 day vacation,” Mom wrote. “Half the ride home was spent with them sobbing and my husband pretty much gave me the silent treatment the whole way. My mother decided to stay behind a little longer but then started randomly texting me about 30 minutes in, asking if I was serious (she knew I was) and told me the whole reason she came was to spend time with the kids, so I had now ‘ruined it for everybody’ and ‘they’re only little once.'”

Wow, there’s a lot to unpack here. We all agree that this poor mom was in the right, right? She had no options, with her husband and mom refusing to back her up or help wrangle these nightmare kids. But of course, the internet is quicker to judge.

“YTA. Your kids are as*holes, because they were raised by bad parents… Both you and your husband need to get on the same page with respect, responsibilities, and discipline,” one commenter wrote.

Another added, “you canceled the trip because you are overwhelmed and a bad parent. You have not described any reasonable consequences that your children faced at any point in that day. You have gone from 0 to 100, how will they learn if there is no clear communication and consistent consequences?”

Many commenters took a middle-of-the-road approach, like one who suggested Mom make things up to her youngest, who wasn’t misbehaving on the family vacation.

“Momma, you should take your littlest one for a ‘girl’s night out’, and let the dad and grandma deal with the boys. Or, offer separate trips (sucks, I know, but we’re trying to teach a valuable lesson here lol). Betcha they’ll be talking about implementing discipline by the time you get back,” they wrote.

Another rightfully pointed out that with so many adults along on the trip, it should have been possible to wrangle (and discipline) the kids and find some peace and balance.

“Could have assigned one parent / grandparent per child and taken them on separate activities, rotates every few hours, kept the boys apart and had a little more peace,” they said.

Still, others took Mom’s side.

“Actions have consequences. Your sons are learning a needed lesson,” one person wrote.

Another added, “Don’t forget, punishing the boys is the right message to send to the daughter, also. And not punishing the boys immediately would be sending the exact WRONG message to all the kids, male and female.”

Ultimately, the internet concluded that Mom was in the right. Maybe next vacation, the boys will remember that their actions have consequences.