Having “Good Manners” is being the good child in home and at school. Your child gets to hear a lot of compliments and recognition of their behaviour which boosts their self -esteem and self -image. It is a characteristic the school wants every child to have in them and even continues to instil further. Let’s read the article further to know about its importance and how to reinforce good manners in children.
Need and Importance- Good manners are simply respect and consideration for others or being aware of the need of others. Practicing and teaching good manners to the next generation makes for a more pleasant life, today and tomorrow and social situations meaningful and respectful for everyone. Good manners’ are conveyed as ‘expected behaviour’ in society and it is not at all something only few should have, but almost everyone must carry and cultivate good manners amongst themselves.
How are Good manners taught at Home and School?
Good manners are taught at home and school extensively. At home, the parents are seen referring the child as ‘good boy’, ‘good girl’ anytime the child shows some appropriate behaviour. When it doesn’t happen, the common scenario is punishing the child to showcase good manners. With it the child becomes stubborn sometimes and sees Good manners as something to show in front of others and not inculcate it as a value in themselves.
Role of School: Good manners chart, star marks on hand and charts etc. is on way how teachers reinforce good manners in children. Also using rhymes, story books and videos are how another applied strategy and resources that help reinforce Good Manners in kids. They are taught at the preschool level, certain times activities in school are based on the theme of ‘Good Manners’.
Now let us dive into the pool of certain helpful tips to promote Good Manners in kids.
10 astonishing tips for reinforcing good manners:
- Appreciate the Good deed-The very basic step in reinforcing good manners is being apprec
-iative of them and the children. As we become strict with wrong behavior, we must be as swift in praising them as well.
- Showing disapproval on wrong behavior and explaining WHY-Whenever child does something bad or doesn’t behave properly, we should disapprove them gently and call out the same in private. Also, explaining why is it wrong or what should be the right behavior and considered Good manners is important.
- Being a Role Model –its’ well said that children follow what they see and live and not much what they are instructed to do. So, if adults at home and in school exhibit a certain good behavior, it is likely for them to inculcate it inside themselves and follow their role models.
- Keeping age appropriate expectations-we may just not notice, but sometimes our expectations of how a child should behave our so unrealistic. We can’t probably expect a child of 3 to 4 years to have the same mental capacity to be as thoughtful and cooperative as we adults might be. They are in particular age and stage of life where our expectations may no correlate with their thoughts and actions.
- Offering prompts-If we really want good manners to be displayed by our kids, why not help them a little with the prompt or so to reinforce the desired results.
- Using consequence of Positive and Negative reinforcement-Sometimes when children know that their good manners will lead to a positive consequence helps in reinforcement. Even when some negative consequence is a part of activity followed by a wrong action/behavior, taking away a certain desired consequence is another helpful mode to increase the expected behavior outcome. It is much better than punishing the child.
- Never shame themselves in front of others rather praise –It is not a very small thing rather a big topic of discussion itself that we shall stop shaming the bad manners of the children in front of others and rather to choose to talk with them openly in private.
- Immersing them more in such behavior-Readings books, showing movies, using role modeling technique are also good commonly used ways.
- Teaching itsimportance-Teaching thekids manners is an important part of parenting and schooling. That said, it can be tricky to help your child master all mannerisms. By using consistent messaging, clear explanations, reminders, and consequences (as needed), we will still instil good manners.
- Stop comparing them with other children and help them look within-Rather than referring to others as ‘Bad’, ‘good’, the focus of the adult should be in emphasizing thatEtiquette and good manners enhances your own individual image.For more details visit us at Best Playschool In India