How To Teach Your Toddler About Manners

Manners are an important part of society. Unfortunately, there are far too few parents who still try to instill manners into their children's lives at an early age. If you are like I am and do want to teach your children to use manners then here are a few tips on how to teach your toddler about manners.

Please and Thank You- You can begin teaching your toddler about manners long before they are old enough to use manners. Once your toddler begins to understand simple commands/requests from you it is a good time to begin a lesson in manners. When you use "please" in an easy request to pickup their toys and you say "thank you" when the task is completed your toddler will notice. Toddlers are like little sponges, they soak up everything that is going on around and being said them. If you use these common courtesies often enough then your toddler will also begin to use them. Therefore, you are creating a foundation for the manners that your toddler could use for the rest of their lives.

Speak Kindly and Be Sincere- We all know that some people can use manners when speaking and yet they can still be some of the rudest people on the planet. It's all in the way things are said. That's why on the internet it can be difficult to know if someone is being rude or sincere in a statement. You can not "hear" the other person's tone of voice or see their facial expressions. This is why it is important for you to be sincere, speak kindly and even over exaggerate your facial expressions when teaching your toddler about manners. They need to be able to associate the correct response and expressions with the right set of manners. For example, when your toddler complies with your kind request to "Please pick up your blocks" by picking up the said blocks, you should show a VERY happy, grateful and excited expression to go with your very sincere "Thank you so much for picking up your blocks." This will show your toddler that you are very happy with their decision and reenforce your "Thank you", which will help your toddler decide that manners (and helping mom out) are great things to use on a daily basis.

Friendly Reminders- All children need reminders, especially a toddler. When teaching your toddler about manners it is important to be consistent, as with anything you are teaching your toddler, and to share constant, friendly reminders. If your toddler is asking for a cup of milk but has not said "please", simply remind then to say please. I do this by asking "Can you say please?" in a friendly voice and I am always answered with a sweet and cheerful "Please?". The same thing works with "Thank you" also.

Show Respect to Your Toddler- Many people, these days, think that everyone should show them respect and yet they refuse to show respect to anyone else. Unfortunately, that mentality causes a vicious cycle of no one ever showing them respect because they are rude and unrespecting of anyone else. You should always hold your children in high esteem and be a good example by respecting them and others. Toddlers are individuals who have their own thoughts and ideas and they deserve for you to respect them. The more that you show them, and others, respect then more likely that you will see them showing you, and others, respect in the years to come.

Lead by Example- With all things that you are trying to teach your toddler, they will learn and understand the concept of manners much easier if you are leading them by example. Your toddler is watching and listening to everything that you do in their presence. If you are driving down the road and someone cuts you off, you may scream "MORON" at the top of your lungs but you should not be surprised when "moron" becomes your toddler's newest vocabulary word in the days to come. The same goes for manners. Be a good example in your day to day life and your impressionable toddler will see that and learn from it.

These are only a few of the ways to build a foundation for your toddler's good manners. There will be many manners topics like hitting, yelling, pushing, etc. that you will have to deal with in the future but for now it's a good idea to start with small steps like "Please" and "Thank you". By starting the teaching of manners early you are helping to ensure that your toddler's future teachers, friends, coworkers and anyone who comes in contact with your child will reap the benefits of a well-mannered adult that you helped to create.