Should parents make it a point to teach their children good manners? In some ways, aren’t these traditions of polite behavior outdated and useless today?
Well, while you may have a tendency to ignore some of the more excessive behaviors, I would encourage parents not to give up on teaching their kids good manners. These practices can go a long way and may even teach your kids more than you realize.
How Good Manners can be More than Simple Politeness Protocols
As a young man, the value of good manners didn’t make too much sense to me. Going through these polite motions during simple conversations and interactions with others appeared to be a waste of time. Since then, I have grown up a little, and now that I run Shepherds Hill Academy, a residential and academic program for at-risk teens, I have a profound understanding of the value of good manners such as addressing others as “ma’am” or “sir” and making the effort to say “please” and “thank you.”
All of these polite acknowledgments, and others like them, do have an important effect as they require kids to consider and recognize the value of a person beyond themselves. Since kids today are growing up in such an entitled and self-centered culture, bringing them up with good manners will go a long way in improving their character and your experience as a parent.
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