Back To School Etiquette

It's back-to-school time! Autumn is around the corner and it's time for children to hit the books and get involved in extracurricular activities.

One of my sweet readers "Mrs. Kindergarten" sent me some photos of her classroom...ready for the students to arrive for their first day of class. Mrs. K has been teaching for 21 years and has the most precious classroom...she calls it "a busy, happy, and fabulous place." Take a peek inside "The Swamp" y'all...


Mrs. K sends me photos of her cute Lilly loot and you can see that her classroom reflects the love she has for pink & green and all things preppy!

So the teachers are ready, but are the students? Back-to-school time is a great time to start fresh with your child's behavior training. Good manners should start at home. Unfortunately if parents don't know how to behave, then children rarely have a chance to learn etiquette skills. Nowadays, most parents send their children off to school with the attitude of "You fix 'em--I don't have the time."

Parents should take responsibility and teach their children how to behave before they send them off to school.

On my sidebar to the right, you will find "Miss Janice's Recommended Etiquette Training Reading List." The following three books are listed there and are excellent sources to help you teach yourselves and your children social and dining etiquette.

~"Emily Post Etiquette," by Peggy Post
~"New Manners for New Times," by Letitia Baldrige
~"More Than Manners," by Letitia Baldrige

Remember that today's children are tomorrow's leaders. Here's some tips that might help you get started teaching your child how to behave:

~Teach your child to share with others.
~Teach your child to wait their turn.
~Teach your child not to interrupt when others are speaking.
~Teach your child the importance of being honest.
~Teach your child the importance of good sportsmanship--not everyone will be a winner and children need to learn that when they do not win, it's not the end of their world! Children should be taught how to lose gracefully.
~Teach your child the proper forms of address for their teachers. Children should show respect to their teachers and use titles when speaking to adults; i.e. Miss, Mr., Mrs., and Ms. In the South, some teachers are addressed as "Miss Janice", instead of Mrs. Gibson...it's a Southern thing y'all and a sign of respect! I would like to add that parents should also address the teachers with a title and refrain from addressing them only using their first name.
~Teach your child how to accept others with disabilities.
~If you show respect to others, your child will learn a valuable lesson from you. If you practice kindness by using words like "please, thank you, you're welcome, and excuse me," your child will learn another valuable lesson from you.
~Don't forget to praise your child when they show good manners!

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."