::being polite::

Today's (nearly late!) Things I Love Thursday:  being polite.

One of the things my husband really wants to teach our son is politeness.  There are so many things we want to teach him...to follow Christ, to understand what he believes, to have a love of literature, music, sports, how to make friends, to love others, and the list goes on and on.  So much we want to teach, and we're doing it tiny step by tiny step...considering that our son is only 16 months old.  One of the things that's been easy (thus far anyway) to teach at this age is to respond politely.

When I was growing up--in the South, I might add--every child was taught to say please, thank you, yes mam, no mam, yes sir, no sir.  I realize now that this is more prevalent in the South....something about southern hospitality...I dunno.  My grandfather was a stickler for good grammar and politeness.  He wouldn't answer our question or comment unless we'd formed it politely and with correct grammar.  It's one of my fond memories about him now....and it drives my innate need to mentally correct everyone's grammar.  (Come on...I *know* I'm not the only person who does this!)  I'm thankful, though, that I was taught to be polite.  If my mom called through the house to get us to do something, and we responded with "Whhhhaaaat?" she responded with "what did you say?" and then we'd quickly say, "I mean, Maaaaamm???"  Same thing happened if she told us to do something and we grumbled about it.  She'd say "Beg your pardon?"  And we'd respond with "Yes, mam" (while inserting a huge sigh, of course).


I still say "yes mam" to elderly ladies...and to my Mama.  And my grandmothers.  ;-)    So does my husband who, also being a Southerner, was taught the same thing.

We practice this for our son by always saying "please" and "thank you" when we give him something to eat or hand him a toy.  He is in a phase of wanting to give us random things: toys, books, tissues (torn up, of course), fuzz from the carpet, crumbs from his cracker, etc.  We say "thank you" regardless of what it is. 

A few days ago, I realized that our son was saying something like "day-chu" when we gave him something: his sippy cup, a snack, a toy, his pacifier.  I suddenly realized that he was saying "thank you!"  For some reason, it made me proud...I felt like I'd actually done something right for once when I feel like a failure as a parent half the time.  Now, we say "you're welcome" to his "day-chu."   It wasn't hard, and it surprised me at how quickly he caught on to it, and I have to say, I love hearing his little version of "thank you" throughout my day.  He's on his way to becoming a gentleman!

Now...if we could just get him to grasp the whole sharing thing....

-glenna-
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