What a dream it is to have a child who has perfectly good table manners and more, right? This article will guide you in teaching your kids, whatever their age may be, to be polite, and to possess good manners. In psychology, children can be taught how to behave appropriately. This is not going to be difficult and if you think you are starting late, think again.
Every child, whether a toddler or a teenager, will learn politeness and other behavior. They can bring it with them even outside of the house. This can be a proud moment for parents who are wishing for a well-behaved, polite, and kind child. Who doesn’t want that, right?
Below are simple and doable steps to teach your children how to have good manners.
Ages One To Two
“Learning parenting strategies before having children, or at least when they are little – not when your children are teenagers – is the truly effective option.” Richard Zwolinski, LMHC said. Therefore, children at this age can still have difficulties following simple instructions and can even misbehave at certain times. In this age group, that is acceptable. They are still grasping things and learning new skills. We could still teach them simple manners like saying “please” and “thank you.”
We often refer to these as the “magic words,” and we can make this seem interesting enough. For example, if your child asks for a drink, you have to teach him or her to say the magic word after asking for something, and when he or she says the words, you give what is asked and inform him or her how to say “thank you.” If you do this repeatedly and remind them if they fail to ask, this will become a habit of theirs.
Ages Three To Six
Help your children develop good manners while socializing with teachers and other kids. Teaching them to say “excuse me” if they need to talk to a busy adult is a good start when your kid attends pre-school.
Teaching them to share their toys and taking turns playing with their classmates and learning how to play “fair” can help them develop their empathic side. It is good that a child learns how to share at an early age, so it does not affect his socializing skills when he gets older. Because as Susie Raskin MA, LMHC elaborates, “Socializing is incredibly important to teens. It’s part of their developmental process. As anyone that has a teen or worked with teens knows, friendships are crucial.”
At this age, you can teach your child what respect means and how he or she can practice showing respect to others. Teach him or her that by calling an adult Mr. or Mrs. is a sign of respect and not intervening in adult conversations is another one. These are simple lessons your kids will pick up immediately.
Ages Seven To Ten
At this stage, you need to reinforce being gracious. Always remind them to say “thank you” or “you’re welcome” and other polite replies is a good start. They will eventually be a part of the child’s characteristics, and you couldn’t be more proud.
Explain to them what being a good sport is to avoid tantrums and meltdowns if they ever lose a game or any activity they have. Tell them that it is good to win, but being a good sport when they fail is something they can be proud of too.
This is also the time to teach your kids that privacy is essential, and going through another person’s belongings is frowned upon by you. Disrupting people is terrible behavior, and snooping around is also a wrong thing to do.
Ages Eleven To Thirteen
If you were invited to a friend’s house, teach your kids how to be a good guest by respecting the host and using good table manners. Proper etiquette should also be displayed while in other people’s house. It is useful if you have established all of this to your child so you wouldn’t have to worry about how they act and behave in another place even if you are not there.
Ages Fourteen To Eighteen
This is a crucial age because children this age are very high in hormones and can sometimes have difficulty in behaving properly. Remind your child that respecting you and other adults are the number one thing they should do. If they have respect and proper manners, then, they are excellent children.
Sometimes, they cannot control their emotions and have spurts of anger and could sometimes step out of line, you have to understand but still need to be strict with them. Teach them how to accept their faults and to say sorry but never tolerate repeated bad behavior. “The first step in helping you teen is to differentiate between normal teenage behavior and abnormal teenage behavior and address only the abnormal teenage behavior.” Christine Hammond, MS, LMHC explains.
The best thing you could do is be an excellent example for your children. Toddlers see their parents as a role model, and if you are in your best behavior in front of your kids, they will most likely pick up their behavior from you. If at a young age, they are taught how to behave appropriately, they will not have any problems regarding their behavior in school, at home, and other places.