Manners for Children

With most parents living a ‘modern’ lifestyle these days, and concentrating so much on their careers, the dangers are that those basic manners that we picked up while growing will be lost. These basic tips while not an attempt at perfection, will remind us what tools we should equip our children with so as not to be termed ‘bad mannered kids’.

·         Be considerate of others

·         Don’t interrupt elders when they are speaking; they should be made to understand the importance of waiting for their turn to speak. If you are having a discussion with someone, and they want to interrupt, calmly caution them not to interrupt. However, you might give them the permission to speak after the cautioning

·         The act of greeting visitors starts from the home; if a child does not greet the parents when he wakes up, or when they come back to the house, it will be difficult to learn how to greet visitors when they show up. Teach them how to greet in the traditional manner; even if you are in the Diaspora. It will not hurt them to know

·         Teach them to show appreciation – ‘thank you’ should be used regularly by them

·         Teach them to apologise – they should learn how to say ‘sorry’ when the occasion demands

·         Teach them the magic word ‘please’. For every request they make, it should be preceded by ‘please’

·         Above all, live by example