Emily is going to Manner's Camp this week at Wildwood Presbyterian Church. Today they learned about saying please and thank you, greeting one another, shaking hands, setting a table, passing serving dishes, sitting up straight, table manners and being kind and courteous (even to siblings). She wasn't all that thrilled to go but in my effort to be very prepared and planned for the summer I signed her up. When I picked her up today, she was very excited and glad that she had gone. Her homework was to set the table. She placed everything perfectly and even made name cards! One funny comment from today was: "Mommy, back in the old days when people shook hands it was to show the other person that they didn't have weapons."
In talking about manners this morning on the way to camp, I was telling Emily and J.D. the kinds of things that I appreciate from people and the manners that our parents taught us (meaning John and I). It is so rare these days in my opinion to find people that have nice manners, even adults are rude and disrespectful these days. Gosh I sound like an old person. But you know when you meet a really nice and mannerly kid...it is so refreshing! Something that I admired about John when I met him and something that my parents admire about him are his manners. He always, no matter who it is, says "Ma'am and sir." He also says Mr. and Mrs. to everyone, even to my own parents after knowing them for over 15 years. John is big into respect and if the kids ever show me disrespect in their words or attitude, he is quick to correct them. He also is very respectful to his elders and his superiors. Another "manner" that I love about John is that he does not gossip! My dad is that way too in that he does not like gossip. I am very grateful for the manners that my parents instilled in me. My brother and I joke to this day about my mother's obsession of writing thank you notes. She made us write thank you notes for EVERYTHING growing up...birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, Easter goodies, etc. I have continued this and I have started making Emily write them as well. I believe it is a very nice gesture. My dad was big on table manners. To this day my left hand is almost always in my lap when I am eating because he would tell us over and over not to "guard" our food and put one hand in our lap. My dad was also big on respect and being in the sales business he is always talking about customer service. My mom always talked to us about being thankful, speaking to people, and showing gratitude when given something. I have talked to Emily and J.D. about this numerous times. You know those times at birthday parties when the child gets two of the same thing. I have tried to teach Emily that you don't say "I already have this" or "I just got this" but to act thankful no matter what. We are working on Emily's greeting skills. She is shy so she tends to back away from greeting people. Maybe manner's camp will help...Emily is now our official manners police. We just ate dinner and the three of us had to hear about all the things we were doing wrong! It was hilarious!
In talking about manners this morning on the way to camp, I was telling Emily and J.D. the kinds of things that I appreciate from people and the manners that our parents taught us (meaning John and I). It is so rare these days in my opinion to find people that have nice manners, even adults are rude and disrespectful these days. Gosh I sound like an old person. But you know when you meet a really nice and mannerly kid...it is so refreshing! Something that I admired about John when I met him and something that my parents admire about him are his manners. He always, no matter who it is, says "Ma'am and sir." He also says Mr. and Mrs. to everyone, even to my own parents after knowing them for over 15 years. John is big into respect and if the kids ever show me disrespect in their words or attitude, he is quick to correct them. He also is very respectful to his elders and his superiors. Another "manner" that I love about John is that he does not gossip! My dad is that way too in that he does not like gossip. I am very grateful for the manners that my parents instilled in me. My brother and I joke to this day about my mother's obsession of writing thank you notes. She made us write thank you notes for EVERYTHING growing up...birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, Easter goodies, etc. I have continued this and I have started making Emily write them as well. I believe it is a very nice gesture. My dad was big on table manners. To this day my left hand is almost always in my lap when I am eating because he would tell us over and over not to "guard" our food and put one hand in our lap. My dad was also big on respect and being in the sales business he is always talking about customer service. My mom always talked to us about being thankful, speaking to people, and showing gratitude when given something. I have talked to Emily and J.D. about this numerous times. You know those times at birthday parties when the child gets two of the same thing. I have tried to teach Emily that you don't say "I already have this" or "I just got this" but to act thankful no matter what. We are working on Emily's greeting skills. She is shy so she tends to back away from greeting people. Maybe manner's camp will help...Emily is now our official manners police. We just ate dinner and the three of us had to hear about all the things we were doing wrong! It was hilarious!
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