Ah manners, a lot of people have them and a lot of people don’t. So where does it all begin? Well, I would say, as a kid.
The sooner and mom and dad can teach their kids that saying please and thank you is the right thing to do, the sooner it will stick.
Pre school does their best to enforce it but really it has to come from home. If mom and dad don’t do it, why would a kid ever do it.
Our 3-year old is going through the learning of this. He gets what it means and understands that he should do it, but it is not always top of mind. I mean their brain has much more fun stuff going on. How can you remember to say thank you when you just got a new toy or your favourite food. Yes, it is hard.
We remind when needed and do a lot of repeating what should be said. It feels great when those two precious words are said organically, all on their own without any reminders.
That is when it feels good to be a parent. That is when it feels great to know you managed to teach something.
But as any 3-year old, the small wins disappear fast, even 10 minutes later. Constant reminders, encouragement and pointing out this wins is a must. Yes it sounds weird to say thank you for someone saying thank you but it will pay off.
When your kid is a teen or an adult and they use manners as they should, someone will think, man this kid had some good parents.
Anyone having issues with their please and thank yous? Join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter.
Our daughter is 4 years old now, and this is STILL a daily struggle. The hardest one for her seems to be “please”. How do you recommend dealing with it? I originally didn’t give her something she asked for without saying, please, but ultimately she’d just say please then, but not the next time. So now I’m thinking it needs to be more of a “hard no” if she doesn’t say please? That is to say, if she forgets to say “please” she doesn’t get whatever it was until the next time, hours or days away… and then, of course, only if she remembers, “please.” I’m a big softy, but it’s doing her no favors not to be stricter on this?