Rude kids become rude adults; teach them early and save them heartache in the end
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How many times have you worked with someone who you thought was just plain rude? And how many times have you been at school, on public transportation or at a store and seen someone put their “lack of manners” to work? We all can probably think of at least one time when we wanted to scream “where the hell are your manners?”
What we forget is that unmannerly adults were once children. Some people don’t think they need to check their kids behavior because somehow it’ll magically come right? I’ve seen parents with rude children walk along with them and not even correct their behaviors yet those same people get angry when someone is rude to them. Being a parent is a full time job and there are some simple things in life that can go a long way with your kids. Please don’t assume they know to do these things because it’s evidenced in how many rude adults there are that they simply don’t. And once these behaviors become habits it is often hard to break them. Here are 10 basic things we should be making sure our kids do. Who knows, maybe the door they open for someone may be the client they one day will need to win over!
- Say please – seriously folks this is not hard at all. Why would you not teach your kids to say please when asking for things? By not teaching them this simple word, they believe they are SUPPOSED to get whatever they want whenever they want it and don’t have to feel grateful if someone goes out of their way to do it. What a great mate this would be as an adult right?
- Holding doors – one of the things that ticks me off the most is to walk towards a door immediately after someone and they let the door slam in your face knowing you were there! How hard is it to hold the door a couple of seconds for the person after you to walk in? The person you are holding the door for could be responsible for your next big break but you won’t’ know if you’re rude!
- Butting in line – teachers teach this but are your reinforcing it at home? There’s nothing more annoying than standing in line and watching a person walk up and get in front of you. The mouth usually drops open because of the shock you feel. Not teaching your children to wait their turn gives them a sense of the entitlement that tells them they can walk over whomever whenever they want. If this were your manager or a new employee at your firm, how would you feel?
- Learn to say thank you – a simple thank you goes a long way. Once again without teaching kids to say “and mean” thank you it gives them a sense of entitlement. This is one of the biggest complaints employees have is that their boss never recognizes or thanks them for their hard work. Well, perhaps they weren’t taught to do so at home! Thank you goes a long way from childhood into adulthood.
- Watching people struggle – I can’t tell you how many times people have complimented my 13yr old on his manners and it makes me happy. I’ve always told him to never let people struggle when all you have to do is simply ask “do you need help with that?” People who can see someone struggling to catch a bus with a baby, bags and a stroller or an elderly person trying to carry a bunch of bag make me wonder what has happened to humanity. Teaching kids this early builds a type of character in them that is indicative of a great leader. Leaders help their staff, not boss them around and watch them struggle so they can tell them they failed.
- The importance of a name – our names create the identity behind the fiber of who we are. Learning names of the bus driver, crossing guard, school safety monitor is important. This shows your kids that EVERYONE matters and no one person is any better than another. I personally know the names of the security people in my building and they certainly look out for me but I can’t say they’d do the same for others who treat them like they are scum because of their positon. And always learn to pronounce them properly…just ask if you don’t know how.
- Say I’m sorry – this should be easy but so many people really can’t say these two words because they weren’t taught the importance of them. It’s ok to be wrong but we aren’t always taught it is, so we go through life covering up our mistakes making things worse simply because we don’t know how to say we are sorry. Let’s stop teaching our kids that they must be perfect and they will then be able to learn from their own humanness.
It doesn’t take much to instill matters in your kids but if you think it’ll just happen naturally, think again!
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Can we please add decent table manners (no loud chewing and how to hold a knife and fork) and giving your seat to elders and others in need.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Brava, Ms. Word.