Yes, Please. Thanks!: Teaching Children of All Ages Manners, Respect and Social Skills for Life. Penny Palmano

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СКАЧАТЬ word ‘No’ appears to be politically incorrect and is almost obsolete in parenting today. Everything must be discussed. Discuss? With a toddler? Gentle discipline and explanation, yes. But discuss?Has the world gone mad?

      I’m not Mother Earth. In fact, when I found out I was pregnant I asked my GP if I could have a general anaesthetic for the birth and suggested being kept under for the next eighteen years. Thankfully, he refused because I would have missed out on eighteen wonderful years and, yes, obviously a few nightmares along the way.

      Our children are now 15, 16 and 18 and I can honestly say that they have (mostly) been a joy to have around – loving, funny, polite, very well-mannered, respectful and popular with their own and our friends. They help around the house (when asked, not usually voluntarily), though I must mention the time they cleared up after our Christmas party unprompted (after their parents and 50-plus friends had called it a night). What angels. My sister-in-law says they are the bench mark that all children should be judged by. High praise, indeed. Perfect? Of course not! They don’t keep their rooms tidy and they wouldn’t know how to pick up a wet towel off their bedroom floor if their life depended on it. But in the big picture, does it matter?

      Our responsibility as parents is to teach our children discipline, manners, respect and social skills so they will develop into well-adjusted, happy young adults. It’s no surprise that children who are taught these qualities are higher achievers at school, make friends more easily and are more popular with their teachers and other adults.

      There are no set rules for bringing up children – how can there be when they are all individual? Bringing up families can and should be fun and I hope this advice will help you enjoy your children to the full. It’s hard to enjoy your children when you’re constantly berating and arguing with them, but it needn’t be that way.

      Bringing up children is 90 per cent common sense and 10 per cent struggling through, although there are many, many times when these percentages seem to completely swap places! So, I hope this book helps you get started or puts you back on the right track. It will not answer every question or solve every problem but it will help you end up with happy, confident and trustworthy children you can justifiably be really proud of and make your life as a parent much easier and less stressful.

      Good luck. It’s worth it!

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       The Buck Stops Here

      Everything we buy these days comes with hard and fast care instructions. Whether it’s a pair of knickers or a frying pan we are told exactly how to look after them.

      But a child doesn’t come with instructions. We simply leave home one day and return with a small human life which is totally dependent on us for love, food, comfort, education, clothing, a home, and for being brought up to be a well-balanced, well-behaved, well-adjusted, confident individual. WHAT? The responsibility of it all is enough to make any parent break out in a sweat and lay down in a darkened room with a large, nerve-calming drink.

      So is it simply good luck if we have well-behaved children who are a delight to be around, or incredibly bad luck that we end up with uncontrollable, rude, disrespectful little ‘horrors’ that are a constant nightmare and embarrassment to us?

      Let’s face it, how many times have we thought or said about someone else’s children:

      ‘Why on earth does she let those children do that?’ ‘Just as long as they don’t bring those ghastly children.’ ‘Did you see the way that child was eating?’

      Imagine if these comments were directed at your own children. Now don’t panic, even if you suspect they already have been, and don’t criticize or label yourself a bad parent and accept things the way they are – just address the problem. Get back in control.

      The good news is that all children can be brought up to be well-behaved, well-mannered, polite and respectful, regardless of their personality or character. Obviously, all children are different and a very strong-willed child may need a stronger sense of his boundaries than a calmer, quieter child but both can be equally well-behaved and a credit to their parents.

      But How?

      Teaching good behaviour, manners and respect starts almost from day one. The way we are with our children from the very early days will start to form and mould the way they are going to behave. So basically, it’s easier if we don’t let them get into bad habits and then try and correct them. It is so much easier, for everyone concerned, if they learn everything the right way from the beginning, not dissimilar to puppy training.

      For example, if we take a puppy to training classes as early as possible, it will learn to walk correctly on a lead, sit and stay when told. But if we don’t train it from an early age, by the time we realize our dog is uncontrollable and we decide to start teaching him, our problems have multiplied tenfold. That old saying, ‘One word from me, and he does as he likes’, can equally be said about some children.

      The sooner you start the easier it is.

      Manners and Respect in the 21st Century – Why We Still Need Them

      Manners, respect and simple courtesies should be second nature to everyone. They should not be considered as some sort of optional extra, as if we were deciding whether to have an electric sun-roof or tinted glass in a new car. They are as important as the steering wheel! And manners are not just about saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’; they show a consideration for our fellow man and are a condition of a civilized society. They are the oil that smoothes the machinery of society.

      The acid test of our children’s behaviour is how others perceive it. Their social education is as important as their academic one. As someone once said, manners are worth another A-level. You are actually disadvantaging your children if you don’t teach them, so come on, put in that time and effort. After all, don’t they deserve the best?

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       How the Wrong Foods Can Affect Children’s Behaviour, Health and IQ

      There’s no point trying to teach your children how to behave when the food and drink they are consuming are working against you both. It’s like wanting a good night’s sleep but drinking a gallon of Turkish coffee an hour before bedtime! It simply isn’t going to happen.

      The Scary Facts

      Most children eat far too many fast-food products, pre-prepared meals, processed foods, fizzy drinks, snacks, sweets, biscuits and cakes, and almost all of these products may contain some type of food colouring, preservative, salt and sugar. These additives are a kind of ‘food makeover’, disguising poor nutritional food with colour and artificial flavour to make it more attractive to children.

      But the increased consumption of these foods and the decline in the foods which are good for children, such as fresh vegetables, fruit, fish, meat and cheese, has sadly begun to take its СКАЧАТЬ