Manners

Thank you, please, holding doors open, announcing your name when you call. . . all important in my book. In fact, not having manners is my absolute pet peeve. The fact that one of my godsons first words was please makes my heart melt (of course this was from his wonderful mommy, not me since he is hundreds of miles away).
It all kind of goes along with the golden rule, and in my opinion is just one more reason for the break down of society. We have truly forgotten how to be considerate of one another. When did this happen?
I remember as a child being so embarrassed to send out thank you cards. None of my friends did it, so I thought it was uncool. Now I couldn't be more thankful that my mom made me not only appreciative of others, but considerate. My son will be a dork, and he will write thank you cards. One day he will thank me.
This past week I was teaching at a local charter school. It was a K-12 school, and I taught eight different classes. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed the day. But I was surprised that out of the eight classes, only one teacher had her students say thank you. I won't go into the manners of the teachers, that is for a whole separate post (my fellow non-formal educators will understand). I just was shocked. That night when I came home I read an article on manners in Parents magazine. So I thought I would share. One because I think if we all remembered some of those basic manners, then maybe, just maybe the world would be a better place. The article was manners kids should know before age 9, but maybe as adults, some of us could use a little reminder. Thank you for you time.
parents.com/manners-list