Reply to Is anyone afraid we are raising a generation of spoiled impolite kids

Forum Index » General Parenting Discussion

Reply to "Is anyone afraid we are raising a generation of spoiled impolite kids"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]I absolutely teach politeness to my kids, ages 7 and 9, and have since they were much younger. I insist they make eye contact with adults when speaking to them, and when someone asks how they are, to respond by asking how the other person is as well. My older kid has gotten especially adept at this, and has realized that it results in a lot of positive attention when he shows an interest; he now does it naturally with us, other family members, and friends' parents and so on. He'll ask how your day was; remember if we've done something and ask about it (how was book club? how did you sleep? etc.). His 7 year old sister is not great at it yet, but she's getting there.

But the distinction for me is that I have taken the time to talk with them about what it means to be considerate of others, rather than forcing them into robotic responses. At restaurants, I remind them not to drop food or napkins or leave a mess because being a server is hard work. I've explained how showing an interest in others makes them feel good and that they'll get positive attention for it, which they've quickly come to like.

For me, having kind, considerate and thoughtful kids who are aware of other people is among my highest priorities--if not the highest. Sure, I want them to do well in school and find things they love doing, but the fact that m 3rd grader's report card called out how kind and helpful he is in class made me much prouder than hearing what his reading or math scores were. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics