![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/man1-768x1024.jpg\")
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Seated recently at my table for Sunday dinner, my grandson uttered a phrase that is sure to make the heart of any grandparent sing with delight and hope for the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cMay I please have some more mashed potatoes?\u201d he asked, with perfect decorum.<\/p>\n
It might be unfair to say I was shocked by this display of elegant behavior, but pleasantly surprised would be no exaggeration. It\u2019s not that I didn\u2019t expect his parents, both raised by fairly strict disciplinarians, to teach their children manners. I just didn\u2019t think the lessons would take hold at this early age. Don\u2019t we try to forget about such passages and how they went with our own children?<\/p>\n
It seems that the home-based teachings (or, sadly, the lack thereof for many) are being supplemented these days by in-depth, practical instruction on manners as part of the pre-kindergarten curriculum in the local schools. Clearly, this additional coaching has brought the topic into bright relief for our Buddy, who, already as a new five-year-old, is so engaged in the pronouncements of his teachers and sensitive to the commentary of his friends.<\/p>\n
The shock (or rather, ahem, the pleasant surprise) rippled further through the family a few weeks before my experience during a family dinner at the home of my sister. Manfully trying to manipulate a green salad studded treacherously with small fruit wedges, Buddy lost control at the wheel and shot a slippery orange section off his plate like a hockey puck and into his lap, where it ultimately skidded to a stop on the frame of the chair leg. My sister, hoping to ease his manifest embarrassment, leaned over and suggested softly, \u201cJust pick it up with your fingers and put it back on the plate.\u201d She claims she will go to her grave remembering his reproachful expression as he delivered his rebuke. \u201cThat\u2019s not manners, Aunt Kate,\u201d he said solemnly. \u201cWe use a fork.\u201d![\"Pigs](\"https:\/\/gmachroniclesdotcom.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/03\/pigs-from-mcbf.jpg\")
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Even more surprising than Buddy\u2019s swan dive into the choppy waters of social niceties are the mirrored actions of his two-year-old sister, who exhibits a remarkably keen eye for strategies that deliver results. Overhearing Buddy request (and receive), seconds on dessert, she surged forward to repeat the magical \u201cMay I please\u2026\u201d and bounded away, smug in victory, a few seconds later.<\/p>\n
Curious how he came to understand the implications of such choices so clearly, so young, I probed Buddy about it after this recent dinner. \u201cI noticed your very nice manners,\u201d I said, punctuating this with a fond hug. \u201cWhy do you think manners are important?\u201d<\/p>\n
With perfect comprehension of action\/reaction, he replied with a philosophical shrug. \u201cIf you don\u2019t say please, it won\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
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*Munro Leaf\u2019s classic children\u2019s book Manners Can Be Fun<\/strong><\/em> was first published in 1936, and the worn copy we came to love growing up was actually a gift to my mother when she was a child. The book was re-released in this country about 10 years ago. Its illustrations, which look like they were rendered by children (see photo above of the two pigs), are timeless classics. I have adored this book since childhood but receive no compensation or benefit from mentioning it here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seated recently at my table for Sunday dinner, my grandson uttered a phrase that is sure to make the heart of any grandparent sing with delight and hope for the future. \u201cMay I please have some more mashed potatoes?\u201d he asked, with perfect decorum. It might be unfair to say I was shocked by this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grandkids"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmachronicles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}