The perfect place for children to learn good manners is at home. “Please” and “Thank you” are still the “magic” words, and we are doing our
children a favor if we insist they use them until they become a habit. As a
grandparent, I realized recently that we, too, play an important role in teaching our grand children good social graces. First they must hear us
using these words. Then we must reinforce what their parents are teaching
them by insisting on the same responses. It takes us all—parents, grandparents, day care workers, teachers—to teach a child.
I’m convinced one of the major problems with children today is a lack
of respect—for anything or anyone. We must teach them to respect authority
and to respect their elders. They must be taught that sometimes there will be
no explanation for why they must do as we say, other than because we are
older, wiser and care about them very much.
Mealtime should, above all, be a pleasant time. Children who see their
family enjoying food and each other will follow their example. This is also
the perfect time to practice good table manners. Our children were taught,
if they finished before everyone else, to ask, “May I be excused?” They also
thanked their mom(me) by saying, “I enjoyed my dinner, etc.” They were
not allowed to complain about the food.
Children do not automatically know the proper way to greet people.
We have to show them! Practice showing a three-year-old how to shake
hands. Teach them to smile and look the person they’re greeting in the eye.
Make a game of it.
Don’t sell these little people short. It is so important to never forget.
that they are just that: little persons who must be taught—by all of us.
Reminder: This is a post that was first published on bcpmylife. I am in the process of transferring all to my new blog, Message From MiMi. Thanks for coming by.
