Just real everyday manners! Do kids even have them anymore??

Its very sad but very true. People with manners are becoming endangered species and parents teaching their children manners or children following them, are looked upon as Victorian and sissy by the peer group. In today’s rat race when everything has a tag and a price attached to it, such politeness, concern for others, stopping to thank someone…are becoming rarer and rarer. Practicing these are a wastage of time and time is money! Why wait in queue and waste your ‘precious time’ when you can actually butt in with a few pushes and shoves? And if the other person retaliates…well you have your own vocabulary and attitude to bail you out! This seems to be the accepted lifestyle of kids and teens of today. I do think they sober down a bit in their adult life but that has more to do with compulsion and adjustment than with manners. But kids and teens are really sometimes a threat to our sanity!

One thing I think many parents forget is that they need to model appropriate behavior and manners-- not just tell their kids how to act. I have always said "please", "thank you", "excuse me", etc. to my children, just as I would extend that courtesy to any stranger. It seems that some people feel that children are not deserving of the same respect, but I totally disagree.

It's not just kids that don't have manners. It's the parents, too. I always make sure my son says please, thank you, and excuse me when they are appropriate. He's only 19 months old, and when we are out in public, he remembers to say the nice words about 75% of the time. If a small toddler can remember that often, why can a six year old not? or a 26 year old?? I think most of those parents don't care what their kids do. They don't use manners, because they don't feel they are important. So they don't see any point in trying to teach their kids manners either.

I have noticed that the smaller the city or town, the better the manners. I think most of us that live in larger cities see more of the "bad manners" than anything else. I think that it is sad that so many children are running around without any common courtesy. The saddest part is that is really isn't the child's fault. The fault lies with the parents. If there is one thing that I, personally, will see to; it is to insure that my son has basic, common courtesy. I have even considered moving to a smaller town just to get away from all the rudeness that so many people today think is perfectly acceptable. Have you noticed that if YOU do something, like bump into someone, they get offended if you don't apologize as quickly as possible? But if that person bumps into you, they don't apologize, they blame you for being in the way!! I get that a lot at the grocery store, at WalMart, even at my son's pre-school. It's shameful.

Kids learn from, um...who? Their Parents! PEOPLE these days don't have manners and I fully believe that's why kids don't. Half the time I actually see kids with more manners than their parents because they learn manners and such in school. I don't know whether people forget their manners as they get older or what it is, but I think the fault is in the adults and not in the kids.

I blame it on the parents. If the parents have no manners then the kids won't have any either. Who are their role models for proper behavior if the parents don't even act right? No one. And you'd better not say a word to someone else's kids or they'd cuss you out. It seems like people are so afraid to discipline their kids anymore and it's a shame. When I was coming up I'd better not look sideways at an adult. Now it seems kids can do and say anything they want and not have to face any consequences. I can only see it getting worse.

Well it's really down to the parents. They obviously haven't taught their children good manners, maybe because they don't have them either! I have to say I encounter just as many, if not more, adults that are rude and ill-mannered than I do kids. If a child is brought up by ignorant parents it's fairly likely they will be the same way.

I know what you are saying, I go through this constantly with my children. I do my dangdist to make sure my kids know their manners, and respect their elders. Course my ex-husband makes sure they forget everything I have taught them while they are with him, so it is constant retraining. However it is deffinately worth it! I know what it is like to not have any manners shown. I know that no matter what, I will be making sure my kids or anyones kids that are with me have manners, because that drives me nuts.

I think it's something that seems more prevalent now than before. I'm sorry to point it out but kids these days have a sense of entitlement without responsibility. Most think that they can get everything without giving something back. Plus, I'm not sure why manners are disappearing too. The other day, a guy that was probably in his early 20s just butt into a long line at the subway. Jeez. First, I think maybe it's because a lot of parents focus on teaching kids academic things to get them ahead in school. I know most of my friends are like that. They're shocked when they learn that I don't fret too much if my 2 year old doesn't sing her ABCs or count to 100. Then they ask me why I focus on values and, more shockingly, how I teach my children values! I always thought values was the most important thing children can learn. Second, I think it's because teaching values is difficult. Children can be naughty and they can test your patience so parents get tempted to give up easily.

Right there with you. My daughters teacher commented on how polite she was saying please and thank you and even have a nice day. I was shocked because I though that curtesy was something every parent taught. I expect her to be polite and lead by example. It's funny I go to Walmart at night for the same reason. lol. I have had the same experience. The one thing that does get me is the respect for the elderly. I give respect to the people who show respect to me. I had an old woman run into me with her cart. Not my cart but she physically hit me! She did not apologise or excuse herself she gave me a dirty look and walked off. That same trip two women were blocking the exit. One wss stitting on the front bench with her basket out and the other was in one of those moterized scooters planted right in the middle of the walk way. There was no room to go around and a line was forming behind me so I said excuse me thinking they would let us through. NO they waited until the woman on the bench wanted to get up then she bumped me as she did and the line started moving again. I at least showed restraint and did not cus like some people behind me but I wanted to. All ages should be considerate of each other.