Teach Your Children Manners

Today's post is going to be cut and dry.  Teach your kids some manners.  Don't rely on the schools; it's not their job.  Don't rely on society; it's not their job.  It's yours.  Here are some of the most basic and overlooked manners in our society today.

Phone manners.  Teach your kids how to speak when they call someone (i.e. "Hi this is Sally Sue. May I speak with Susie Q, please?").  Teach them how to speak when they answer the phone.  Teach them not to call a friend seventy times in a row if they don't answer (you would not believe how many kids do this).  Teach them basic phone etiquette.  It will move mountains in their professional lives as adults.

Host/Hostess Manners.  Teach your children to answer the door politely.  Teach them that having a guest means that the guest goes first.  Teach them to offer a seat and a drink to their guests.  It seems that these skills have gone by the wayside.

How to Treat Their Friends.  Teach your children how to treat their friends and classmates.  In short, teach them not to be little assholes and drama queens.

Opening Doors.  Teach them to open doors for their elders.  Teach them to open doors for women.  Teach them to open doors for each other.

Table Manners.  Seriously, what happened to basic table manners?  Teach them to eat with their utensils.  Teach them to sit up to the table with elbows off the table.  Teach them to eat their food instead of picking it apart and complaining.  Teach them that if someone makes them a meal, they should be grateful regardless.

Please, Thank You and You're welcome.  This seems to be gone by the wayside, as well.  "Please" and "thank you" are a rarity anymore.  We enforce it with toddlers but once the kids go to school, it disappears.  Teach it.

They're NOT adults!!!  Teach them that they are NOT adults and don't have adult privileges.  That means that just because Mom gets to stay up late, it's not their privilege.  Just because Dad gets to watch TV after a long day of work doesn't mean they need to be in front of it all day.  This also means that they are not subject to talking in your adult conversations, particularly interrupting you.

Interrupting  Teach your children not to interrupt you when you're speaking to another adult.  Teach them not to interrupt you when you're on the phone.

The most basic manners seem to be considered taboo to discuss today.  We're supposed to "respect our kids" and "not hurt their feelings."  Well, I say that we should respect our kids enough to teach them how to function in the real world.  You can be a mom that hugs and encourages her kids while still telling them that you won't tolerate their bad attitude, manners or behavior.