In order to be well received, your children need to know how to behave in polite society. Teaching your child the rules of good manners and courtesy can be challenging, but if your child is exposed to them when he is young, he will have those polite behaviors well ingrained into his conduct by the time he reaches adulthood. Teach your child how to be courteous in a variety of settings by choosing activities that are age-appropriate, interesting and fun.
Arts and Crafts
Arts and crafts activities are a good way to introduce the principles of good manners to a young child. Sitesforteachers.com suggests using hand puppets to teach children courtesy. After making simple hand puppets out of paper plates or small brown bags, you and your son can use them to practice the basics of common courtesy, such as saying "please" and "thank you," covering your mouth if you need to cough or sneeze, sharing, asking to be excused and taking turns. The puppets can also be used to sing songs or recite simple poems about good manners together. With arts and crafts, your child will learn basic etiquette and enjoy himself at the same time.
Role Play
You can also use role playing to teach courtesy to your kids. This technique of practicing a real-life scenario with your child is especially useful for teaching school-age children phone etiquette. Simply pretend to place a phone call and model for your daughter the proper way to greet someone, to ask for appropriate information and to take messages. Take turns being the caller and the callee so your daughter can gain experience placing and receiving phone calls. She will enjoy role playing different scenarios with you, as she acquires the important life skill of conducting herself politely on the phone.
Sports
Playing a sport will give your child the opportunity to learn good manners in a group setting. In order to be a good team player, your child will be expected to treat the other members with respect. He will also need to play fairly and be encouraging to his teammates. This expectation of courtesy will be enforced by his coaches and his peers. He will also have the opportunity to learn principles of good sportsmanship. Your son will win some games and lose others. Whatever the outcome, he will need to learn to bear it graciously by always thanking the other team for a good game and refraining from unsportsmanlike conduct, such as name-calling or making belittling comments.
Ettiquette Dinner
An etiquette dinner is an activity that simulates a fine dining experience for middle school to high school-aged children. Formal invitations are issued and accepted, and your daughter would be expected to wear dressy attire. During the course of the dinner, a guest speaker would talk to her and her friends about good table manners and etiquette. If formal place settings are used, she also would be given instruction on which fork or spoon was appropriate for which course and the proper ways to eat particular foods.
