The six-year-old has thrown a plate because he is exhausted and over-stimulated. His mother, two metres away, says nothing. The fifteen-year-old has been in her cabin for two days and has just asked, casually, whether she could take the tender out with a friend from the boat next door. Both of these are your problem, and neither is solved by being liked.
Behaviour without undermining the parents
- The parents set the discipline style; you apply it consistently. Ask on day one what they use - time out, counting, removal of a privilege - and use exactly that.
- Never contradict or criticise a parent in front of a child, and never impose a punishment they would not.
- Praise the behaviour you want and be specific. On a yacht, over-stimulation, tiredness, sugar and heat cause most of what looks like naughtiness.
- If the parents will not back you and the behaviour is a safety issue - running on deck, climbing rails, going near the platform alone - that stops being a discipline question and becomes a safety escalation to the chief stew and the captain.
Screen time
Follow the family rule. Screens are legitimately useful on a long passage or a wet afternoon; they are not a substitute for supervision, and a child on a device on the aft deck is still a child near water. Agree limits with the parents and hold them without argument. Watch what tweens and teens are posting: no photographs of the vessel, the location or the guests should be leaving that boat, and that includes theirs.
Homesickness, anxiety and the child who does not want to be here
Not every child enjoys a yacht. It is noisy, strange, confined and full of adults being served. A child may be frightened of the water, seasick, missing friends, or simply bored of being told to be quiet.
- Acknowledge it - do not talk them out of it. "This is a strange place to sleep, isn't it."
- Give them something that is theirs: a bunk corner, a job, a routine, a countdown chart.
- Protect contact home if the parents allow it, and keep the familiar bedtime sequence.
- If a child is persistently distressed, tell the parents plainly. Persistent distress is information, not a failure.
Seasickness in children
Common, miserable and dehydrating. Fresh air, horizon, midships and low, small dry snacks, sips of water. Any medication - including anything over the counter - is a parental decision with medical advice, never yours. Persistent vomiting means fluid loss, and fluid loss in a small child goes to the yacht medical response quickly.
The bored teenager
Boredom plus risk-taking plus water plus toys is the most dangerous combination on the vessel. Give them status, not supervision: a real job with the deck team, teaching a sibling to paddleboard, driving the drone. And hold the hard line without apology - no unsupervised tender, no jetski, no swimming alone, no night swimming, ever.
Onboard Notes
When a child pushes, ask yourself first: are they tired, hot, hungry, or frightened? On charter, four times out of five, that is the whole answer.
Preparatory study only. These lessons are not a childcare qualification and are not first aid training. Caring for children at sea requires a recognised childcare qualification and a current, practically assessed paediatric first aid certificate from an approved provider.