Manners Matter!

Most people know Saranoni as a family-centered business, and that’s just how we like it! Family and kids are central to our brand, as well as to all of our team’s lives! 

As parents, we’re responsible for raising the kinds of people that we want to send into the world, and it’s a responsibility that we take seriously! Manners matter, and in a world where it’s increasingly easy to hide behind a screen, act unkindly and disengage from interacting with people in social settings, manners REALLY matter! 

If you’ve struggled knowing where to start on teaching your kids good manners, you’re not alone! We’re no parenting experts, but here are a few basic ways that we’ve found have been helpful in teaching our kids basic etiquette! 

1. Model good behavior- simple things like saying thank you to customer service agents, modeling patience in frustrating situations and even treating your children with respect, and expressing gratitude when they serve you are all great ways of simply being a good role model for your kid’s expectation of manners! 
2. Talk to your kids about how to process emotions like anger or disappointment in healthy ways! Help them come up with game plans to put into action when they feel big emotions! You might practice breathing exercises, taking some time alone, or even expressing to people around them that they hurt their feelings in a calm, kind way. 
3. Teach empathy! Simple questions like “how do you think that person feels in their situation?” or “how would this or that situation make you feel?” can help your child begin to build a base of empathy and concern for how their actions may affect the feelings of others! 
4. Helping your child develop the confidence to speak and communicate clearly with others is a big part of their developing good manners! Praise your children’s efforts to do simple tasks like ordering their own food at a restaurant, making a phone call, or talking to adults. 
5. Practice what you preach! Show your child that you feel emotions just like they do! If something has made you sad or upset–you needn’t mask your emotions! Feel free to let your child see you process your own emotions in an appropriate way!  Exemplify to your child that emotions coming and going are a normal part of being human, but that they don’t mean that we get to be unkind to other people! 

Remember, at the end of the day, you’re doing amazing, Mama. Your littles will learn the most from watching you–and how lucky are they? We know we’re not the only ones with tips or tricks–drop your favorite way to teach kids manners in the comments below!