All parents want their children to grow up polite and cordial. Unfortunately, most won’t grow up this way without any influence from their parents. If you simply left your kids to develop manners and politeness on their own, they would never say please or thank you! Teaching your children manners takes a lot of effort, and isn’t something you can achieve overnight. But, thankfully, there are a few different things that you can do to make it easier for your child to pick up some of the basics. Here are my favorite tips!
Start Early With Polite Words
Your kids won’t pick up polite words, such as please and thank you, on their own. You will need to be proactive and teach your children these kinds of words. Lots of parents wait until their kids are old enough to speak, but it is a good idea to start earlier before they even say their first words. When you are speaking to babies, it is important to drop in a few pleases and thank yous whenever possible so they will realize that they are common parts of everyday speak.
Teach By Example
Kids always try to copy and mimic the behavior that they see around them. So, if you and your partner are polite to others around your children, your children are very likely to adopt all of these manners themselves. There are various polite things you can do that will specifically be a good example for kids, like sending custom thank you notes after receiving gifts and holding doors open for people.
Don’t Be Too Forceful
Lots of parents sometimes try and force manners onto their children. If kids ever forget to say please or thank you, these parents often scold or punish them. It is fine to encourage them to be polite by saying something such as ‘say please’ after they ask for something. However, you should never be too forceful and punish your children for forgetting their manners. And you should certainly not teach manners as a way of getting what they want.
Don’t Tune Out Your Child
There is an old saying that children should be seen and not heard. However, if you follow this adage and tune out your child when you are around other adults, your child will probably react very negatively and could purposefully forget all the manners and politeness that you have taught them. Instead, you need to make sure that they are acknowledged in the group, even if they are the only child. By doing so, you will be showing that you respect them. Respect is one of the cornerstones of politeness, and teaching your child respect is a great way to reinforce their manners and good behavior.
Even though teaching your children to be polite and well-behaved will take a lot of time and effort, it is important that you actively endeavor to improve their manners. That way, they will be able to grow up into respectable and well-rounded adults in later life.
