Manners are a way of life. Some choose to live them, others choose to not.
My grandmother was a huge, huge stickler on manners. Please, thank you, may I, walk softly, chew quietly, sit with your legs together, look at the person in the eyes when speaking to them, walk softly, etc. (Yes, I wrote walk softly twice. I apparently was a very, very loud walker.)
When we tried to get around someone and said "Excuse me." she would ask if we had passed gas. Excuse me is what you say when you pass gas or burp. You say "Pardon me" when you want to get around someone.
Oh, and the classic. You ask "May I...?" not "Can I...?" Anyone can, but you say may when asking for permission.
But, wait! There's one more. You never say "I'm done." A turkey is done. You are finished.
Liam and Matthew are great with using their manners. Although I am nowhere near as strict as my grandmother, we all use please, thank you, excuse me, bless you, etc. I use them at home and the boys have just picked up on it. (Even my husband's manners have gotten better after 12 years of marriage!)
It's a simple thing that we can do to be kind and respectful to others and to treat them the way we would like to be treated.
What do you do when it goes beyond just saying please and thank you?
We homeschool and I am with the boys for a majority of the day, every day.
Now, don't get me wrong. I love it. I choose it and I wouldn't want it any other way.
But...
We all need time to do our own things.
I need some time to finish a sentence with the first child before the other one demands something of me.
It needs to become a habit to use a respectful tone when speaking to others.
My boys need to learn when it is appropriate to ask a question and when they need to wait.
Our family needs to learn that respect means complying with a request that doesn't have to be finished with a consequence.
It will take some time, a lot of love, grace and patience.
Respecting one another goes deeper than a simple please and thank you.
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