How to Teach Good Manners for Elementary Kids
Teaching manners to kids of elementary school age is important because it sets the foundation for how they will treat other people in school and in society as they grow up. Manners determine social and personal relations. As with all other habits, it takes time for kids to be able to display good manners naturally. Parents need to have persistence and patience in the process of developing respectful and considerate children who grow into responsible adults.
Instructions
Avoid responding to your child's acts of mannerless behavior with humor or anything that would make light of the behavior. This will only encourage the child further to display such behavior to attract attention. Make strict rules instead. Tell your child firmly that you will not tolerate any bad-mouthing, name-calling or whining at home. Be persistent in requiring the child to follow the rules. If your child says, "I want another pancake mama," with his mouth full, even though he knows it is against your table rules, tell him calmly, "Ask me again clearly after swallowing your food. Then I will answer you." Do not fulfill your child's requests until he adheres to table manners. While it may be hard for you to follow this in the beginning, your child will come around and learn to use manners as you persist in enforcing the rules. Avoid shouting at your child when she fails to follow manners. Sometimes kids behave the way they do because they are not aware of what is expected of them. Instead of yelling, explain to the child what he needs to do. Thus, rather than saying, "You have no manners, Marianna. Don't just stand there -- say thanks to your aunt for the gift," say "Marianna, you're supposed to say thank you when accepting gifts. Please do so." Teach your child beforehand how you expect him to behave in social situations, especially before attending the function or event. Explain to him that he needs to use polite expressions such as "thank you," "please" and "may I?" Show him how he needs to behave at the dinner table. Remember not to scold your child in front of other people at a gathering, even if he displays poor manners; doing so will only aggravate his behavior. Instead, take him to a separate room and tell him how he needs to present himself, and how he is hurting his parents and others by behaving badly. Show appreciation of your child every time she is polite, respectful and displays good manners, saying, for example, "I liked the way you thanked your friend just now for the present. Good." Appreciation reinforces her behavior and she will be more likely to repeat it. Display good manners yourself. Your manners reflect on your child. Observe yourself and how you behave with others. Do you give orders to others or request them? Use "please" and "thank you" regularly at home.
