Teach your child some common courtesy.

Your children will be easier to live with and a joy to take out in public. 

 I have to say, this is missing in so many households right now, and when these kids are unleashed on an unsuspecting world…watch out!  You’re in a store like “Hobby Lobby” with all of its beautiful, breakable things, and a group of 7th-8th graders are chasing each other around the store…where are their parents? 

There’s the screaming child whose mom just keeps ignoring the noise while everyone else in the store or restaurant is muttering “Take that kid out of here NOW and get him straightened out.”  

Here are a few common behaviors that every child should be taught:

1. Teach your children to let others go first in line at the church potluck and that taking no more than two cookies, etc. at a time is considered polite. 

2. Teach them not to touch. Make sure that when they are in stores with you they are not touching everything in the store–it’s not a difficult thing to do…begin when they are very young. 

3. Teaching your child to say “Please”, “Thank you”, and “Excuse me.” can be done even before she is able to pronounce the words clearly.  Using simple sign language also works.  I’ve seen children say “More, please” before they can form words.

4. You want to be confident that when you take your children to church, a restaurant or the grocery store, they know what proper behavior is in each situation.  Every child will at some time or another behave inappropriately, but that should be an anomaly, not the norm.

5. Teach them to sit still in church. When my children were elementary school age and younger, they often sat on the front pew of church while I played the piano/keyboard and co-led worship.  If they started wiggling too much or talking during the service, they now tell me they can remember me giving them a look from the stage that reminded them that they had better straighten up.

6. Teach them to answer politely when spoken to by adults. 

7. Make sure they know not to speak out loud in a movie theatre.

8. Work on their people skills so that they learn to notice the people around them and react politely in different situations.  Don’t let them see you pushing others out of the way, telling off people who serve or wait on you or constantly speaking disrespectfully of others.

9. Teach your children to be polite drivers—I know I’m stepping on toes here, but yelling at other drivers and calling them idiots and other even less complimentary names sets your children up to be the same when they get behind the wheel.

10. Good manners at the table are a must.  A child should learn how to ask for food, pass food, correctly use eating utensils and chew with his mouth closed.  He should know to not take so much food that there won’t be enough for everyone at the table.

If you take the time to instruct your children in common courtesy, everyone will be happy to see them coming.