The holidays are now upon us. Festive, happy, social gatherings with family and friends are already under way. Well, let’s be honest – maybe not all gatherings are always happy and what we truly want to do with our time. Children tend to have similar feelings towards social events. Have you ever talked to a […]
The holidays are quickly approaching and that means socializing and dining with others. Children usually love the holiday season and the opportunity to eat and have fun. It’s also an excellent opportunity to teach your child about considerate and proper dining body mechanics. Proper dining body mechanics may seem like an odd topic, but it’s […]
The beginning of school and accompanying extracurricular activities can be an exciting, yet sometimes stressful time for some children, especially when it comes to meeting new people. Although I teach etiquette skills to children, I am always so delighted when I see them successfully applying etiquette skills in everyday life. When I accompanied my friend […]
Lately, there have been a lot of news stories about the decline of children’s manners. Some retail establishments have even tried to ban “misbehaving children” from their business. In an extreme effort to solve the problem some groups have fought for “child free” dining and compare eating with children to dining with cigarette smoke. Some […]
Using profanities almost seems commonplace in American culture today. Let’s face it — it’s almost impossible to avoid hearing profanities. We hear swearing on a large number of TV programs, movies, music, video games, sporting events and sometimes just from being out in public places. It may be commonly accepted to hear the use of […]
At a recent outdoor press conference, President George W. Bush teased a Los Angeles Times reporter for wearing “shades” while asking him a question. President Bush later learned that the reporter was wearing the sunglasses because of a serious eye disease. He later called the reporter to apologize for the incident. The reporter handled the […]
Being honest is a basic principle of etiquette. But being honest and not hurting someone’s feelings is sometimes a learned discipline for children. From an early age, we encourage children to “use their words.” Then, we marvel at how well they accomplish that task and really begin to grasp language. That is, until they say […]
Bringing a child to a performance is a very exciting experience, and should be pleasurable for all. Teaching your child what to expect and how to display good theater manners is a valuable life lesson. Before the show Try to get to the theater a little earlier than when the show begins, to avoid disturbing […]
Weddings are one of life’s most joyous occasions. They’re about family and the circle of life. Nothing embodies that cycle more than children at weddings. However, if you’ve ever been at a wedding where children were not prepared and behaved poorly, then you know first-hand how a joyous occasion can quickly turn into an unpleasant […]
Most of us have made an etiquette faux pas at some point in our life. And yes – it feels lousy while it’s happening, but the silver lining is that we can learn something from our mistakes. As hard as we try we will always make etiquette mistakes. The same holds true for children. We should […]