Ever wonder if your kids will EVER learn some manners? Ever cross your fingers and pray they behave when they are with someone else? Yeah, me too. Manners and good behavior are DEFINITELY a work in progress at all times at our house. I shared a funny story here about my son when he was only 2 and would constantly keep me on my toes with his crazy behavior! Look at that picture above. 5 years later, he still drives me nuts by popping out the screens in his window to escape time outs, sneaking stray cats into his room, stealing my candy stashes and hiding the wrappers under his bed, and the list goes on. That being said, he has come a long way and he actually behaves really well for other people. (YAY!)
Then there’s my newly turned 5 yr old. If I thought my son was hard physically, she is hard emotionally.
Life just always seems to be a glass half empty for her and we’re working on it every day. When she smiles, though, she can light up an entire room. I’m looking forward to spending more one on one time with this girl during the upcoming school year. We will definitely be working on emotional manners. Yet, once again, when I send her to my sisters for sleep overs, she tells me how well behaved she is. I must be doing something right! (if only I could get that awesome behavior at home!)
No one at my house can get a word in edgewise with my 10year old. She talks a mile a minute, and is always working on her next project. Her last project was “Get my mom to let me keep 3 kittens.” It failed miserably, but we did get to have fun raising 3 adorable kittens for 2 months. Her mind is so creative, yet to get her to focus on homework or chores…endless battle. That being said…once again, she recently stayed the week with 2 different cousins and both families raved over how well behaved and helpful she was while she stayed with them. Anyone seeing a trend here?
What can I say? This picture says it all. This guy keeps me busy for sure with all the stuff he gets into all day, yet, I just can’t seem to get upset at him. I mean, c’mon! Look at that cute face! I’m sure he has some wonderful tricks up his sleeve for the next several years!
If there’s ONE SIMPLE thing I’ve learned about manners as a parent it’s that my kids usually follow my example. If they see me throwing my clothes on the floor, obviously they will do the same. If they over hear me gossiping about a friend or neighbor, they will likely think it’s ok to do the same about someone else. It TOTALLY stinks, doesn’t it? Why can’t our kids just do what we TELL THEM TO DO rather than do what we DO? I guess that what makes this life a learning experience and parenting one of those hard classes that no one seems to know how to PASS!
So obviously, like a lot of other parents, I get my kids worst behavior while others tend to get their best. I guess that”s one of the many blessings of being a mom. Recently, though, I received a wonderful gift from ALL of my kids. We RARELY EVER go to a sit down restaurant, because I would rather not deal with the stress of getting all my kids to sit still and use manners in public, but this summer, I decided to live on the edge and try it. I took all 4 of them to Applebee’s for lunch. I prepared them in the car on the way there, and we reviewed how they should behave, and then I just crossed my fingers. I was shocked at how well they behaved ! It was wonderful!
THEN, to top it all off, the waitress left me this note:
I had to take a picture because that was a huge deal for me! Okay, maybe my kids CAN be taught! Who knew?
