Tips to Teach Your Child Manners : Good manners are vital in every social situation, no matter how formal or casual. Unfortunately, teaching kids manners is often one of the more challenging subjects; but it can be one of the most beneficial lessons your can pass along. Manners make any social situation simpler – whether that means hugging Grandma when she enters or passing my cousin her bowl when asked by me for more mashed potatoes!
Manners not only demonstrate our care and respect for others, but they can also make life simpler for us. Affective manners make others feel at ease around us – something which goes a long way toward creating more receptive friends, partners and work colleagues who respond more readily to our needs.
Tips To Teach Your Child Manners
1) Be Clear And Concise When Teaching Manners.
An early start is essential when teaching manners to your child. Children of this age tend to be more open and accepting of learning when presented with new things; now is an excellent opportunity to begin. When starting off teaching manners to young kids, focus on short, simple explanations – for instance social stories can help in this endeavor.
Social stories are short, easy-to-read stories that examine specific social situations like dining at a restaurant or attending a birthday party. Social stories are great tools for teaching kids manners because they provide visual cues when out socializing – perfect for younger kids who may find the rules too juvenile; more mature teens may prefer shorter sentences and direct language instead. Manners are key components of interpersonal interactions so it is crucial that parents be clear on what you expect your child to learn in these stories.
2) Teach Your Child To Be Aware Of Their Environment.
Early years are often marked by self-focused behavior from your child, which makes teaching them to become aware of their environment a powerful way to develop into better social beings as well as setting them up for future success. Modeling good manners and being aware of others’ surroundings are both vitally important.
Things such as staying on topic when engaging in conversations, waiting your turn before speaking and knowing when and when not to use your inside voice are vital social skills that may easily get neglected when focused solely on oneself and our needs and wants. Modeling good manners is an excellent way to teach your children to consider others needs as well as themselves, yet giving them practice with being aware of others is just as vital for developing social awareness skills.
3) Help Your Child Understand The Importance Of Manners.
No matter their age, it’s crucial that children understand the why behind manners. Manners don’t need to be robotic; try connecting the rules you teach with familiar things your child already enjoys doing such as:- Explaining why a person should say thank you when receiving gifts or services and “thanking” people when receiving assistance
Help your child understand why it’s important to wait before speaking and discuss why using their inner voice is good manners and helps others focus. Start off by relaxing the rules to something they already know before discussing why following them even when not necessary is so essential.
4) Have A Weekly Meeting For Teaching Manners.
Your child may learn different manners at various ages, so a regular meeting to go over their progress and discuss any recent ones that they’ve been learning is invaluable. At such meetings, discuss what manners your child has been practicing as well as any that still need work and set a plan of action for the following week.
By setting up regular meetings to address your child’s manners, you are creating an association between positive manners and their growth and having regular reminders about what needs work. A meeting once weekly allows you to address most aspects of their manners while checking progress – this way, if there are still areas needing improvement, time can be spent working on them before next time!
5) Set Up Scenarios To Help Your Child Practice And Internalize Good Manners.
As your child becomes an older tween or teen, they’ll begin to understand more of the rules of etiquette; however, their attention may shift more toward themselves than following manners. At this age, it is crucial that you check on them frequently to ensure they’re practicing good manners and comprehend why they are necessary. One excellent tip to teach your child manners would be creating scenarios which allow your tween/teen practice their newfound abilities through role play – this can help hone these important skills further.
If your child struggles to use the appropriate fork at dinner, try setting up a scenario in which they must eat with someone who always uses an inappropriate fork. Or if they struggle to remember to say “thank you” when someone does something nice for them, try creating situations in which they need to say thanks but they don’t understand why they must say thank you. By setting scenarios and then discussing their success or lack thereof afterwards, you can help your child internalize etiquette rules and manners.
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6) Helping Your Child Understand Why Good Manners Matter.
Teaching your child proper etiquette and good manners are crucial skills, but also understanding why these rules matter is equally essential. One way you can do this is by explaining the benefits of having good manners on both themselves and those around them – having manners shows others we care.
Good manners show others we respect them, are thoughtful and considerate individuals, help navigate social situations more smoothly, give us confidence to tackle life more easily – by helping your child understand the significance of good manners you will help set them up for future success and empower them with confidence for life’s journey ahead.
