Etiquettes That We Forget To Teach Our Kids

To teach good manners to the kids is the responsibility of the Parents. If we are thinking that the manners would be taught at school then we are wrong. Sooner or later we would be pushed to a spot to experience the shame.

Will we be comfortable if a near unknown person other than the teacher correct our kids in a gathering due to a wrong behavior?

No, Never – if that situation arises it is not the kid or kids who are at fault instead it is a fault of us, the Parents.

We teach our kids certain good habits but not all always. In fact, we ourselves do not know many etiquettes. Here are some of the etiquettes that we teach our kids.

• Give Respect.

• Look and respond when someone speaks to you.

• Eat and chew with your mouth closed.

• Say Hello and Thank You.

• Table Manners.

But, the above mentioned are not the only ones we have got to teach our kids. There are certain good manners which need to be taught to a kid irrespective of the country in which we live.

The fact is that there are some of the good manners which even us adults do not know about. If we think that we know everything as an adult, how many do we honestly follow in our day to day life?

In our busy lives, we even ignore some of the etiquettes in places where we need to follow though we knew about it very well. For example, the etiquette which we need to follow when we use an Elevator at the workplace.

When we ourselves do not follow good manners sometimes, how can we teach our kids?

The ignored or less focused Etiquettes:

Elevator & Escalator Etiquettes:

• Standing in a Queue.

– How do we feel, when someone cuts you and grabs his ticket from the ticket counter? If he/she in an urgency, they should have asked your permission at least on whether they can go before you. Haven’t we felt that many times before?

• At the Elevator/Lift Area.

– How many of us stand on the right-hand side of the Elevator while waiting for it?

– Do we stand away from the Elevator door while waiting for it?

– How many of us hold the door of the elevator for a person who had almost reached the lift?

– Do we move to the back once entered into an Elevator or do we stand right after the buttons for an early exit?

We all need to think once again as the kids learn most of the good habits from us parents.

• At an Escalator.

– How many of us know the below mentioned? Even if we know, do we follow?

We need to stand at the right-hand side of the escalator while standing and leave the left-hand side free for those who are in a hurry and want to walk.

I do not even know this until last month. Nowadays, every time we go to a Shopping Mall, I tell my kid that we need to stand on the right at the escalator if we are not walking.

Road Etiquettes:

• On the Road.

– Especially, if we you are in India? How many of us had taught our kids that we need to allow an emergency vehicle to pass on the road?

– How do we stop our vehicle at a signal? Before the stop line or over the stop line or after the stop line?

– What is a Zebra crossing? How many of us had taught our kids about it? We do not see that in most of the roads nowadays in India, at least from what I had seen. That is again a different story.

– How often we honk?

Yes, there are times when I honked without a break just because I am in a hurry. But, is that not my responsibility to start at the right time considering the traffic?

– How many of us give preference to the pedestrians on road?

Above mentioned are not just traffic rules but an etiquette which needs to be followed by all. Whether we drive or not drive does not matter here.

Other Etiquettes:

• Say, “please,” when making a request.

• Use the words, “Excuse me,” when burping and while sneezing irrespective of the place.

• Say, “Excuse me,” and move away from the crowd when passing gas.

• Do not interrupt anyone when they are already in a discussion.

• Close the door while using the restroom.

• Do not belittle others in front of a crowd.

• Not to ignore anyone in a group while discussing.

• Cover while coughing with an elbow or with the napkins.

• Do not ask questions that might hurt others feelings.

• Do not stare and remark at someone who looks different.

• Help the needy.

• Do not scratch the body parts in public.

• Do not use tooth pick in such a way that is visible to others.

Etiquettes/Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot – Clarence Thomas.