Manners

I got on this new email distribution list at a website called iMom.com. The email list is called "Espresso Minute" - basically, it's an idea list of things you can teach your kids or play with them and so on. Today's minute is on teaching your kids manners, which a list of the top 10 manners your kids should know. I thought it was interesting, and I definitely want to work on some of these with B2:

1. Put others first: This could be the only point we need to make, because it's at the root of all the others. This principle is manifest in holding doors, stepping aside, offering the last cookie, giving up your seat, changing a tire, saying "no, after you…", carrying groceries, offering a hand.
2. Polite phone protocol: This item could have its own list! Turn the phone off during meals, movies, classes and conversations. This includes texting. Bottom line - give 100% attention to the people you are physically with. Your phone has a voice mail feature – use it!
3. The thank-you note: There are two kinds of people in this world: those who write thank-you notes for gifts or special occasions, and those who don't. Teach your kids to write thank you notes and they will have understood a foundational concept. Nothing elaborate is necessary, but the effect is always memorable.
4. Open the door for others: Contrary to popular myth, this is not a chauvinistic practice. Door-holders open for their peers, their mothers, their dads, and strangers. They also yield the sidewalk and hold the elevator. There's no stopping them. Good manners always say, "After you."
5. Use "Thank-you" and "You're welcome" routinely in conversation: Simple but powerful. Help the kids make it a habit. This is one you need to model at your end.
6. Shake hands and make eye contact: Teach kids to shake hands, to make eye contact and to offer a word of welcome when they meet new people or when others visit the home. It may be a cliché to say first impressions make a big impact, but it's a cliché because it's true.
7. Teach them to offer to serve people who enter your home: Make it routine - "May I take your coat?" "Would you like a glass of water?" "Let me take your bags…" People who visit are our guests.  This is a key lesson, no matter what a child's age.
8. Stand up when an elder enters the room: Many adults have forgotten this gem.  It's a sign of respect no matter what our age. Grandparents? Aunts and uncles? Teachers? Any visitor to the home. Teach children to stand as a sign of respect.
9. Be polite to people who serve: This means make eye contact and turn your phone off when talking to the cashier at the fast food restaurant or at the grocery. It means being respectful to the server at the restaurant. It means saying "thank you" when you're given food or change. Try thanking the bus driver for the ride home or a soldier for serving our country.
10. Practice manners at family mealtimes: Family dinners can be a perfect venue for manners. Demonstrate, practice, model, question, prompt. No TV, no phones, no distractions from polite interaction. "Please pass the potatoes…"  "Thanks…" "Can I get that for you?" "Mom, can I pour you a glass of water?" The family unit is the most important venue to learn social graces and family mealtimes are maybe our best opportunity.

What a gentleman my little boy could be!! Am I a nerd because I'm excited to teach my kids manners? :)