Friday, December 14, 2007

Good Manners

I think most people would say that they want to raise well-mannered children. What do you do on purpose to help make sure your kiddos have (and keep) their manners. Also, what do you think it looks like in this day and age to have good manners? I, of course, am most interested in advice for 2 year-olds and 4 year-olds but I'll take advice for any age as my children will eventually grow up despite my protests that they stay this age forever!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

While Ken (and Kyndall too) were growing up, using "please" and "thank you" were were always a must. "Please" was the "magic" word. They were told what "please" meant - then anytime they asked for something - before they would receive it they had to use the "magic" word. "Thank you" seemed to just come naturally as it was reinforced anytime they received something from the time they could talk.
Good manners are VERY important but "please" and "thank you" seemed to be the beginning of the good manner training. Hope that helps!

Jessi said...

This is kind of fun, as for Halle, most people are amazed at how polite she is. She always says please, thank you, you're welcome, pardon me(very Canadian, I know) excuse me, I'm sorry. You get the point. I guess when I really take a step back though, I am constantly reminding her and telling her the same things too. When I need her out of the way, I say, "Pardon me, Halle. Thank you for moving". My husband on the other hand rarely uses these terms when communicating with her and I'm finding that while she, most of the time, still responds politly, it's not as often as it is with me.

K said...

Todd is two, so we've been doing the 'please' thank you' 'you're welcome'. We are trying to work with basic table manners like not banging spoons, not screeching, etc. I guess I go off of what would bother me or other people in public. I prompt him all the time, and am hoping he'll one day do it by himself.