The doorbell rang. After I checked to see who it was, I let Big J open the door for his grandparents. He gave them both hugs and then asked if he could take their coats. {Only my dad was carrying one, but he had the right idea!} After we had all greeted on another, he asked if he could get anyone a drink.
Good manners make me happy.
They have nothing to do with salvation or righteousness, but they just make me feel good, both when I practice them myself and when I witness others doing the same.
We have always tried to teach good manners to our children, but we feel the time has come to put our guys through a little “Manners Boot Camp” of sorts.
Don’t worry, there won’t be any early morning “please and thank you” drills, but we’re taking the next two months to study and practice manners of all kinds in all situations! The scenario above was just a little trial run of what we’ll be practicing and putting into practice!
I couldn’t think of a better time to do this than around the holidays. Not that manners shouldn’t be exhibited at all times, but the holidays provide lots of dinners and parties and outings that other times of the year don’t, so we will seize this opportunity to help our guys grow as gentlemen!
A few resources we will be using along the way…
Manners Made Easy: A Workbook for Student, Parent, and Teacher
Plants Grown Up – This handbook for raising godly men from Doorposts covers many topics, but we’ll be focusing on the chapter on Manners during this time!
If Everybody Did
Boys and Manners: 104 Things Your Boys NEED to Know
I’m getting things all set up to start our “boot camp” on Monday!
Do you have any other tips or resources you love for teaching manners?
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I'm Erin, a wife, boy mom x 3, writer, and runner in Nebraska! I'm excited to share all my favorites relating to faith, family, fashion, and fitness in this space! Enjoy! 
Perfect timing on this! I’ve been looking into Manners Made Easy – we need to spend some serious time on drills and what’s expected when certain things are asked! I heard recently from a homeschool family that did it with their kids ages ago that they STILL talk about it and how positive an experience it was. Thanks for sharing these resources, mind if we tag along? 😀
Yes! Please join us!
This is great!! You’ll be so glad you did this! I’m going to look into these resources too. Thanks for a great reminder!
Put in the work now, reap the benefits later, right?! Let me know what you think of the books if you get any!
I think it’s important to start them while they’re young. My boys haven’t offered to take coats or get drinks, but they must say please or thank you (or the answer is no) and they have learned to open the door at least for me.
That is a great place to start! I’m hoping this will make them more aware of the needs of others all around, but I especially love when they hold the door for me 🙂
Great! I have two boys and I’ve been looking for a good resource to teach them manners. I would love to join in to learn so I can teach:)
Blessings
I’ll put up another post at the end of this week to share how it’s going! Hope we can learn together!
Since you asked for resources, I’d love to mention… My Mom has a video program for teaching kids manners — and lots of other kid-oriented programs (safety, health, babysitting, and business). They are widely used by scouting programs, churches, hospitals, and individuals. It gets great reviews. You should check it out! http://www.smartkids101.com/politekids.html
Thanks for sharing that! Checking it out now!
Great resources! I love when people tell me how polite my girls are, even my almost 2 year old, but we definitely could work a little more on perfecting them! Especially at the dinner table when my 5 year old’s bottom turns into a marching band on the wood chair 🙂
I’m loving this post and SO looking forward to this series!