The other day A young woman and I were waiting at an elevator for the door to open, when the door opened she said to someone behind me " hurry it's here". All of a sudden a little boy probably about 4 years came running right in front of me ( cutting me off ). The mother scolded the boy and "said you could have made that lady fall, tell her you are sorry", which he did.
I thanked him for his nice manners and said " you are very lucky that your mommy is teaching you nice manners. He looked shy but the mother beamed with pride.
My point in telling you this is that it only takes a minute to teach a child manners, all you have to do is take advantage of an opportunity, and use it as a teaching time, that way you are not "harping" at them but they learn.
Another example might be if you are having a meal together as a family whether at home or in a restaurant and your child/children are on their cell, texting or playing a game, it is a good time to ask them to wait until you have all finished your meal, explaining that you would like meal time to be a "family" time. You could even make it a rule that there be no electronic devices at the table when it's meal time, ( very few things are so important that they can't wait until after a meal).
Good manners may not " change the world" but it sure makes it a more pleasant place to live.
And remember the younger you start to teach them the more it will become part of their way of life.
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