Over the summer we had lots of sleep over and kids over to play. We noticed that so many of them had the best manners and we wondered if our kids behaved that way when we weren’t around. We are always reminding our kids about manners and trying to teach them to be polite to others. My husband and I came up with a few tricks to teaching them to be polite.
Keep it simple! Tips on Teaching Kids Manners
First, we decided not to overwhelm them with a ton of new rules and things for them to say or do. We picked out 1 or 2 things out at a time. We started with just yes ma’am and no ma’am. We thought this was pretty simple to do. We let them know that they needed to start using these words.
Next, we had to stick to our guns. We couldn’t give in. I felt like it was more work for us than them. We were constantly telling them when there was a time they should have used those words. My middle son loves to answer with “ok”. Well, he doesn’t anymore. Every time he said ok, we let him know he needed to say yes or no ma’am or sir.
Last, there was a consequence if they didn’t use their manners. They spent time in their rooms and writing sentences until it sunk in.
After a week or so they were getting the hang of it. My husband and I stuck to it too. Honestly, I think that was the reason it worked. Once they had that down, then we started adding new things. For example, when an adult was talking to them, they looked them in the eyes and answered them. If they screwed up, we just reminded them when we got to the car and it started to get easier and they started doing it on their own.
We are still adding things in and working on it, but it’s getting much better. How do you teach your kids manners?
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