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Home > You have GOT to be kidding me...

You have GOT to be kidding me...

November 8th, 2007 at 03:48 pm

I was just perusing the paper while I was waiting for my turn in the shower, and I just about choked on what I read.

I can't find the article online, which is a bummer. So I can't share. (I'll keep an eye out). But it was an article about a Manners class for 2-5 year olds.

Where they learn not to bring toys to the table, to say please and thank you, to not talk with their mouth full.

The class is $75 for 6 sessions or about $17/hour.

Yes, people are willing to PAY this to teach their kids to be polite.

Are they out of their minds?????

I guess this particularly struck me as we have gotten A lOT of compliments/comments lately about how polite our kids are. I always scratch my head at that. Um, well, they learn by example. Since we aren't mannerless dolts I would expect them to not to be either.

I Can't say we put a lot of conscious effort into making them polite. so it boggles my mind a bit. I also had 2 different friends over for dinner in recent months who were amazed by the kids table manners, and as their kid ran about the room wildly, said they never made him sit at the table. I actually didn't give much thought to their non-table ways but also didn't exactly see what was so novel about a family meal experience. LOL. Both people thought we were so disciplined with our kids or something, making them sit at the table until we were all done. To us it's just normal civility.

So this article was just the icing on the cake. Paying to learn these matters. Wow!!!

Heck, maybe WE should start teaching some classes. People really pay for this? Hmmmm, a side income stream? Wink

I think mostly it's a sad state of society. & yeah I have seen relatively polite people put no effort into raising polite kids. So the more I think about it the more it bothers me. I am not sure if 6 weeks of classes will do much to make kids polite.

12 Responses to “You have GOT to be kidding me...”

  1. moi aussi Says:
    1194539800

    I wish they would round up all my neighbourhood kids and enroll them into such a class. They are all brats. Whoever's heard of eating dinner at a sidewalk! But that's what the kids in my neighbourhood do. Eat chicken out of a bucket for dinner and then dump them in the sidewalk even though a trash can is 10 feet away. They are loud, they litter and they are rude and have no matters at all. It's scary to think of them as the future.

  2. pretty cheap jewelry Says:
    1194541619

    One of our 1st grade teachers has a 'manners' lesson. It is made as very fun but serious. It is a 'luncheon' with parents invited to take pictures.

    The little boys pull the chairs out for the little girls, there are napkins to be put in laps, utensils to be used politely, water to be sipped.

    My kids did not have this teacher, but are also complimented ocassionally on their quiet polite patience while I am doing 'business' with jewelry consignment shops.

  3. db1974 Says:
    1194541744

    DH and I just talked about this last night. Our sons (4 and 3 yrs. old) at least sit at the table, but there is constant complaining. I can't count the number of times, I've had to interrupt my meal and put one of them in time out. DH and I, we believe, are very polite people so we think they have a great example. Somehow they've learned that they can complain/whine/cry. I don't understand how because I NEVER give in to what they want and they find themselves in timout (after a warning of course) everytime. We're at wits end! I'm beginning to hate mealtime when it should be one of the most enjoyable times in the day.

  4. princessperky Says:
    1194542382

    I think it is a sad state of affairs, when parents wont even take responsibility for simple rules...wonder how soon there will be potty training classes, or classes on how to drink out of a 'big kid cup' no sippy lid...I hae honestly seen 7 year olds with sippy cups...now in a car I might get it..why buy one with a straw when you already have one...but in the house, at the table?

  5. monkeymama Says:
    1194542586

    moi aussi - I think that is the scary thing. IS just the norm these days.

    I was talking to dh a little about it before I Went to work. I think I can sum up our parenting style in 2 ways. One, we are very involved (though interestingly one shocked parent was a SAHM with a very involved husband, so it seems to make little difference in that regard). & we treat our kids like, well, kids. If not adults. They aren't babies, for sure. But babying is a huge problem I see, around here.

    We also get a lot of comments how well our kids talk, particularly when they were 2-3. We just always talked to them like adults and their preschool teacher is always asking me that. What did we do? Do we talk to them like adults? It's all I could figure. Didn't put them through speech boot camp or anything. If I could just bottle it up and sell that -man. LOL. But we kind of concluded the same thing - we expect them to behave like big kids at the table, even like adults. So they do. But it wasn't a terribly conscious decision. I would laugh at the idea of us being horribly strict. IT's just what we do.

    db1974 - Those are the only tips I can give. My 4yo is terribly whiny and the 2yo is going through terrible 2s so we have our issues. LOL. They just seem to pull it together well for guests I guess. I guess which is the other side of parenting for us. You have to give them some leeway sometimes. They go through things and need more flexibity at times.

    But I Am not sure is a 6-week class will suddenly make your kids polite. I just really question that.


  6. mom-from-missouri Says:
    1194545939

    I used to teach this class!!! At the community center where I used to live, as part of the park department program. But, it was just $7 a class, and for kids 4-13. We learned table manners, which silverware to use, what a finger bowl is for (many thought it was to drink out of)... We ended up also doing an adult class as well. But, being a college town, we had a huge number of people attend who were not from the US and had no idea how to use our silverware.
    Two of my adult students later did there own class--one did a class on orential cooking and how to use a wok and chopsticks, and another on africian foods. I went to those as well and learned a lot (plus got a meal out of it too!).

  7. katwoman Says:
    1194552244

    Some of you might not remember but I waitressed in my younger days and saw some atrocious behavior by kids. What was worse, the parents almost never admonished their children. It was as if going out to eat meant that the kids were allowed to run amok and mess up someone else's place just as long as it wasn't their own. Very few had kids who would sit quietly and knew to say please and thank you. That's why people compliment the parents of those who have obviously done a good job! They are so few in number.

    I'm all for these etiquette classes. As far as I'm concerned they should be mandatory.

  8. Ima saver Says:
    1194558181

    I am one that goes over and comments when a child/children are well behaved at a restaurant. We go out to eat to enjoy ourself, not to hear a child scream, cry and run all around. ( I understand that babies will cry) I do not understand why the parent does not take them out of the restaurant, but instead just allows the behavior to continue.
    (I was a waitress too)

  9. princessperky Says:
    1194561473

    The more I think on it, the better having those classes available sounds good..what if you were the child of a parent who never taught manners...you would want a class for your kids since you don't know the stuff yourself.

    Though it is still sad that so many are in need of it.

  10. kimiko Says:
    1194571370

    If I recall correctly, 80% of children behavior came from the parents, so the parents should be the one to teach and practice manner if they wanted their children to learn. This is one class that's going no where.

  11. kimiko Says:
    1194571496

    As for children running amok, it's a matter of discipline, not manner.

  12. monkeymama Says:
    1194632315

    Well I think it's all entertwined - discipline and matters. Obviously the children lacking discilpine also lack manners. Imagine that!!!

    The funny thing is we rarely go out and usually the kids are fine. I don't understand when all my friends say they can't take their kids out. I am like my youngest is 2 - of course he is fine to sit at a restaurant. ???

    Of course kids will never be "perfect" 100% of the time. I remember I really wanted to go out for my 29th birthday and both my infant and 2yo were NIGHTMARES. So we left before we finished dinner. Not fun. LOL. The best parents will have BAD days. I just hope people are sympathetic to that too. OF course you figure the parents who look mortified and walk out in this situation usually fare better with their kids. The frustating thing is the kids running amok with uncaring parents.

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