Good Manners are essential for every child’s self- confidence and success in life.

We all want our children to be well-mannered, but also know it can be hard to convince them to practice the virtues of being polite and respectful.

Life can be crazy enough as it is, juggling kids, schedules, dinner, the laundry, and a part or full-time job.

With poor role models influencing your children every day on television, the internet, and right beside them in the classroom, you could use some help and guidance to keep your kids on the right path to good behavior.

Etiquette classes offering fundamentals of solid behavior and other life skills training are a blessing to many parents. My Princess Tea Party business has offered this etiquette service for many years with great success as measured by the amount of repeat and referral business I receive.

Normally this type of training is geared to younger children, ages 6+, focusing on the basic building blocks of appropriate behavior in social situations.

At Lisa Rose for example, we use a “Manners are Cool” approach. Right away we are developing a rapport with the children in a way they can embrace, making it fun for the kids as they learn by doing.

Once you’ve established that it’s cool to do this, which happens quickly, they are eager to learn, and, therefore, the value and benefit of the social skills we are teaching is easily understood.

As children prepare to attend preschool or elementary school, it’s the best time to work with them on the basics of interacting with others. A good beginners Etiquette training should teach:

• Why manners are important
• How to address the teacher and/or administrator
• Positive First Impressions
• Introductions and greetings
• Interaction with adults
• Eye contact
• Body language
• Table Manners
• Social interaction with peers
• Kindness and respect toward others

The benefits of this training are many.   The child becomes more aware of their personal behavior which leads to better classroom and at home behavior, and the development of social skills to create positive first impressions, successful listening, and general communication skills.

For young children this is an essential foundation from which to grow. It may not insulate them completely from negative influences, but it does it enable them to recognize good behavior from bad and a make a good choice.

The ability for a child to present themselves and behave in a positive, respectful manner has a tremendous impact not only on a growing child’s self- confidence, but also on family and classroom dynamics.

I love getting feedback from parents on how family cohesiveness has improved and how things have changed for the better as a result of our sessions.
When children are calmly taught to understand what a first impression is and how it influences friendships and the way their teachers or potential new friends first perceive them, oftentimes the light goes on and they use what they’ve learned as a starting point to develop positive relationships.

As children practice what they are taught in the sessions, they begin to develop habits of being considerate, understanding, and respectful of others. They learn to share and respect the space of others including family members as well as when they are guests outside the home.

As adults, you know how difficult it is to prosper in today’s world. You can only imagine what it will be like when today’s young children are up to bat. If a parent can provide for Etiquette and Life Skills training, there is no child who cannot benefit from it.

It is a positive step in the right direction for parents to put into practice the foundation of social etiquette to help them through life..