Why are there so many children with bad mannars ?? Surely please and thank you aren't that hard to say ?

[mummyloveslucy]

I probubly am but this is a real pet hate of mine, children with no manners.
It grates on me when you say to a child "hello, how are you" and they just say "fine" often in either a drowning or a blunt tone. When I was young I was taught to say "I'm fime thank you" or somthing similar but always with a thank you on the end. My daughter says it and she's 3 and has a speech disorder, so there's no excuse. A lot of children seem to have no concept of please and thank you anymore.
I know I shouldn't care what other children are like, but it makes me sad to think that my daughter will be starting school soon and I don't want her lovely manners to disapear just because it dosn't seem to be the norm amung children these days.
Do you agree, or am I about to be slated?.

I couldn't agree more. In fact I risked my oldest & best friendship to mention this - a 9 year old didn't say thank you for an entire treat weekend, ie clothes shopping, meal out, theatre. However I think she should have been prompted, so therefore not her fault, and she did write a thank you letter. Sorry slight rant, a bit of a sensitive point

You sound like a snob

manners cost nothing but your post wasn't put well.

I have met far more adults with terrible manners. If children do have bad manners then it is down to learned behaviour.

FWIW I think OAPs have the worst manners.

I agree children should be taught to say please and thank you. Having said that, Ds1 (2.11) will do this at home/ with people he knows but put him among strangers and his voice drops to a whisper and you'd be lucky to get a word out of him. I would not like him to be judged as ill-mannered on the basis of shyness.

So I guess I think you are being a little U unless you take this into account.

Example. Children learn by example. Best way to teach a child good manners is to be good mannered yourself!

How many parents do not routinely say please and thank you to their children? Very many. You have to teach them, you have to talk that way to them so that it becomes part of the normal way of talking, so that it is natural and instinctive. Simply barking at them to say please, when you show them no courtesy, just won't cut it! It would be like trying to get them to talk by not talking to them, not letting them hear you speak!! Can't work, they need to absorb it in the same way they learn other parts of language - nobody teaches kids each word, do they? Yet they learn words and grammar...

That's my theory anyway!

kittywise disagree, what are you saying? that you have to be posh to have manners

Not trying to be inflamatory or anything, but what was snobbish about the OP kittywise, surely it's fair to want her DD to have good mammers?

doh - manners!

mammers - lol

all my eldest got on his reports was - he has lovely manners

the lack of anything else implied the unsaid - but thick as shit ....awww

Try living in Italy the manners are disgusting, not jus the kids the adults to, It's shocking sometimes

No, noo. I object to is this "my daughter will be starting school soon and I don't want her lovely manners to disapear just because it dosn't seem to be the norm amung children these days."

It comes across to me as if she doesn't want her dd spoiled by being amoungst all these nasty rough folk who have no manners. Perhaps she will catch fleas from them as well!

I would be delighted if I got 'lovely manners' on my ds's report, however he's currently 6mo, so a little way to go yet

DD 2.9 is very good about Please and thank you says sorry and Asks whether we are 'orwight' and replies with fine thank you.

Agree that OAP's are pretty rude.

kittywise - once again have to disagree, having grown up in Oxford, manners have nothing to do with being 'rough'

some of the rudest kids I have come across went to the private school across from us

Kittywise - I can kind of see your point, but think you may be being slightly sensitive, I think the OP is making a broader point?

Agree with that one aswell.

wb- No I definatly wouldn't bat an eyelid if a little toddler refused to talk to me. My daughter went through this too. It can be very intimidating to a very young child to speek to someone they don't know.
This is aimed at older children. It is true though that they have to learn it from their parents.

No I know manners are not about class. it was just the way the op came over, that's all.

I'm tired and fractious!

kw - I feel your tired and fractiousness, my dh currenting hiding in pub because I'v been been a touch sensitive recently

kw - I feel your tired and fractiousness, my dh currenting hiding in pub because I'v been been a touch sensitive recently

have a beer, I'm going to as soon as the kids are in bed!

nooonki (sorry, too tired to count all the os)
That wasn't OHS was it?

glass of wine in hand!

I don't know about flees, but kittywise seems to have a bug up her arse about something.
I know children in private schools with awful manners and children on councel estates with lovely manners.

My Mum used to say "manners don't cost anything, but they mean everything".

Well probably being pedantic but did read thread title and think 'er actualy ds1 can't say please or thank you' (he's 9 and can say mummy nothing else).

he did once get called rude by some OAPs when he was about 5 as he didn't reply when they said 'what's your name' (I wasn't sitting near them or I would have told them he couldn't talk). They muttered and grumbled to themselves along the lines of 'children today have no manners'