The Importance of Childhood Manners

Manners are important for a few different reasons. Teaching a child to be polite is a great way to set them up for success in adulthood. Good manners say a lot about a child and a child's upbringing. Learn how good manners can help your child's behavior and teach them respect.

Having good manners is really about respecting those around you. Politeness makes a good first impression and can affect the way that people treat and view your child. If your child demonstrates a lack of concern for other children and adults, then they will follow suit and show little respect for your child.

Teaching your child to think about other people's feelings will help them to be the first to set the tone of new relationships. Social skills are important for learning, building relationships, communication and more. Children lacking manners have a very difficult time being accepted by other children.

Let's take sharing, as an example. It is definitely polite to go ask another child if they would like a turn with your toy. If a child shares and takes turns, then they have made the other child happy. Children want to repeat things that are pleasing to them. If it was fun to play with your child, then that child will be excited to play with your son or daughter again. Not only that, they will treat your child with the same respect that was demonstrated earlier.

In turn, your child will experience satisfaction by receiving positive feedback for sharing. This will further instill the value of being considerate and the child will actually want to be polite. Adversely, if your child does not have good social skills or manners, then other children will avoid them.

Teaching manners is relatively easy, especially if you start early. Children as young as one year old can learn to say "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome". At this age, they will learn simply by imitating you. It is very important to be a constant role model for your children.

As your child gets older, it you will probably face more resistance. Sharing is the first big social hurdle that most parents face. You can ease into your first attempt at teaching the new skill. If possible, get some new preschool toys and tell your child that these are "big boy" or "big girl" toys that are made for sharing. Something easy to share, like a train table or an activity table, is a great choice. When your child does share, or at least tolerate another child playing with the same toy, praise them as much as you can.

Some manners are easier to teach than others. Be patient and be a good role model. Teach your child one type of manners at a time. There are table manners, phone manners, visitor manners, church manners, school manners, and more. You can simply teach them to treat others as they would like to be treated and it covers most of the bases.

Making manners come as second nature takes starting early and being consistent. Lead by example and you'll be through half the battle of teaching this important life skill.

About the Author: Jim Ford is the President of KinderMark, a family owned and managed business which sells waiting room toys and waiting room furniture used in doctor's offices, hospitals, auto dealers, dentists offices and libraries. Preschool toys such as an activity table and learning toys are favorites for pediatric offices.