How to raise a polite child

The ease of this depends on how polite you are.

All you have to do is constantly model good manners. As a naturally polite person I found this very easy to do. Every time someone gives you something say thank you and every time you ask for something say please. It’s that easy.

This goes for when you are talking to your baby as well. Such as when you pass them a toy or they give you one say thank you. I didn’t actively plan to teach my children good manners but I did expect good manners as that was how I was bought up.

You get what you ask for/ what you expect.

I didn’t waste time teaching my children ‘ta’ first either. We just jumped straight to thank you. Otherwise that is double the learning that your little one has to do.

I didn’t ‘dumb’ down my speech either when talking to my children, which is probably a big contributing factor to their wide range of vocabulary.

Your child will idolise you and be looking at you, to learn how to behave and what is expected of them. Such as how all children like to play with toy hoovers, brooms etc. It’s because they have seen you doing it and want to copy you to be grown up. Annoyingly, as soon as they are of an age where they can properly clean they realise how mundane cleaning is and quickly stop enjoying this activity.

Mirroring your actions is a survival technique left over from our cave man days. Babies needed to watch and copy their adults to discover how to look after themselves and be able to make a shelter, gather food and avoid the dangerous animals that think of them as a tasty dinner!

Please and thank you were words that my little ones picked up very early on. Granted, when they were first attempting to say these words their pronunciation left a lot to be desired but the intention was there.

My daughter still says ‘ffffank cue’ in a sing song tone which absolutely melts my heart.

Raise your standards and expectations and they will rise to the challenge.

Don’t wait until they are old enough to speak to start modelling and expecting it, start early and that way it will become second nature to them.

Using good manners is one of the easiest ways to make the world a better place.

I’ve witnessed many physical transformations when you treat someone politely and with good manners. It has the power to put someone in a good mood and therefore they go on to treat others in a kind and caring way.

I experienced such a transformation just the other day in the supermarket. There was a frazzled mum in front of me at the check out. At the point of paying she dropped her purse and all of her coins fell out, rolling off in all directions across the floor. She dropped to her knees with a flushed face, mumbling to herself that she was a stupid moo. Some people may have sighed loudly because they were in a rush and she was taking too long.

However, as is my nature I instantly dropped to my knees and started to help her gather up her money.

I cheerfully said “don’t you hate it when that happens, never mind, easily fixed.”

“I’m so sorry.” She muttered.

“It’s fine we aren’t in a rush.” I smiled back at her.

I watched as her shoulders visibly relaxed.

Then my super star little gentlemen said to her “It doesn’t matter. It’s like a tidy up game, it’s fun.”

Her lips instantly broke into a big smile that reached all of the way to her eyes and when she thanked him for giving her the money and he replied with “You’re welcome.” I watched as her whole face lit up.

In those few moments our polite and kind interactions took her from a stressed out mum to a person full of gratitude. Her crying baby instantly calmed down as well, clearly picking up on mum’s change of mood.

Proof of the importance of good manners.

Now go and be a good role model to your child, society will thank you for it.

#polite #goodmanners #behaviour #modelbehaviour #please #thankyou