Please and thank you - is it worth the effort of reminding your DC's?

[dilemma456]

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Please and Thank you are alive and well in our house.. they go on holiday from time to time and and at that time we nudge DS1 (4) about it but generally he remembers.

For me it is important and I won't be giving up on it if I have some times of DS's not saying Please and Thank you instinctively

I think it is worth every effort and hate it when people don't insist on it with their children. I always remind visiting children too, if they don't do it unprompted.

You are right and the "someone" who commented is an idiot!

Please and thank you cost nothing, but mean so much. I insist on it with DS1 and DS2 will be learning now he's signing!

It is very, very important - and they do get there in the end if you remind them enough. My great moment of triumph was DD's first school report commenting particularly on her good manners; at her nursery school she won the good manners prize (oh yes...)

My DS is spectacularly clever, and is sometimes rather keen to tell everyone how clever he is . I use it as an opportunity to remind him that good manners - and not blowing one's own trumpet - are more important than being clever!

Oh blimey, I do the 'reminding visiting children' thing, too. Some of them seem to think I'm nuts!

It's rude not to say please or thank you.

Very Important, always worth the effort and they do get the hang of it in the end.

I do not like it when other peoples children don't mind their Ps and Qs and I always prompt them, regardless of their parents being there. (Yes I am a bit of a cow for that one but hey!)

It's still a work in progress here, but not something I will be giving up on.

Good manners really do cost nothing but mean so much (and make me feel proud too!)

We do try, although I cannot say we succeed 100% of the time. But I really notice it when they do remember and I am proud of them for it .

very important, i find dcs go through stages of forgetting and you have to keep at it. also think it's really important to get them to say sorry, even though they probably don't understand what it really means until they're a bit older.

HUgely important and DD says both about 95% of the time unprompted, she will be 3 next week.

Yes, mine are really quite good at remembering (they are 5 and 7 now). If you insist it just becomes second nature, and you're doing them a favour in the long run. However I think its also important that you model it too - I think dh and I are quite good at being polite and appreciative of each other!
Mind you, I'm not sure that they always remember when at other people's houses...

It has also been noticed and commented on in nursery about how polite she is.

i would persist, my Ds is only 2 and always answers with yes please or no thankyou...its good to have manners. he even told the man on the train you say thankyou when i paid for a drink, but after propting he did!
i think children follow your example, my son also says pardon and not what, as i hate it!!!
Nursery staff always comment on it and so do others especially when we are out.

Always. I hate it when children don't say please and thank you, and glow inwardly when dd does it without being reminded (not always the case...). I find myself prompting ds as well, though as a 19 month old non-speaker it would be extremely surprising if he turned round and said thank you.

Though I have to say it doesn't bother me too much if other kids forget - I tend to make quite a lot of allowance for them being in an unfamiliar environment.

It's important and I keep reminding mine. At the same time I don't worry too much about other people's children. And I do cringe when I hear some overbearing parent going on and on at their toddler to force them to say an audible thank-you when it is obvious that the poor child is so shy that the whole situation is torture to them. Moderation in everything is my creed.

Agree that modelling is everything. And the parents that nag most audibly about this in my hearing are not always the best models IME.

There will come a time, when you don't have to remind anymore and you will reap the rewards with people telling you what a polite and lovely child you have and that they are a credit to you.

Very important. Remember that no-one will ever think badly of them for having good manners, but they will think less of them if they have bad manners.

Tangential but I got a mini cab at the weekend and the driver did not say please (when asking for his fare) or thank you (on receiving it).

He did not get a tip.

I think it is important, and feel I am forever nagging them about it. In fact, it has become such second nature to me to remind them that, after holding a door open for an elderly lady who said nothing, I was horrified to hear myself saying out loud "Thank you- you're Welcome!"

Lol at Jooly, I do that too (well, I mutter it under my breath!! ). Please and thank you very important, although I don't remind visiting children.

This thread reminded me of a really sweet incidence at a kids' party, mostly 4 and 5 year olds. The magician started to do his first trick, waved his wand and asked the kids "what are the magic words?" One little boy put his hand up and said "please and thank you!!" All the mums went "aaahh!!"