Kanye West Shows Bad Manners

Early this morning I caught up on the VMA Award Show via youtube and watched in horror as some very unmannerly events happened. For those that don’t know Kanye West jumped on the stage just as Taylor Swift won an award and was about to give a speech.

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Kanye grabbed the microphone and shouted Beyonce was the best, then handed the mic back to Taylor and left. The recent incident with Kanye West has me thinking of how important it is to teach our children manners. Here are some tips for etiquette.

- Teach your child manners at a young age. I began teaching mine to say please with hand gestures just to get them use to the idea of saying please for items. We also taught thank you at a very young age as well.

- Teach by example. If you are trying to teach your child how to be in public or to have good manners then the best way is by doing it yourself. Children mimic what they see, especially when it is their parents. If you show bad manners they will too.

- Southern Hospitality. Some believe it is just a southern thing, but I believe every child should learn the phrases: please, thank you, May I, Yes and No Sir/Ma’am. This shows respect and great manners. Another nice gesture or gentleman thing is to teach your boys to open doors for women.

- Show Respect to Elderly. We were always taught to say Mr. and Mrs/Ms. when addressing someone older than us. It shows respect and sounds much better than hey you.

- Show Right and Wrong Behavior. By showing your child what good manners are does not help if they only see good. Point out a few bad manners every once in a while so you can discuss with them why something is bad and what that person could’ve done to show good manners. This morning I showed my two oldest children the video, immediatley they asked why he did that. At that point I asked why they’d say that and why was it wrong. Both responded that it was disrespectful and wrong. My daughter replied that hurt her feelings and he interrupted her. Hopefully by watching this video in future years they will remember this and never pull a stunt like this.

- Manner recommendation resources.  One book I highly recommend is “Emily Post’s The Guide to Good Manners for Kids” by Peggy Post & Cindy Post Senning. Or you could visit the Catholic Education and read the “Teach Manners” which has four really good tips.

Manners are very important, not just for children but adults as well. Have you ever noticed when someone has manners it makes you smile? Or maybe you just liked that person a bit more. Some Manner issues we might want to teach our children using last night’s performance could be:

Manners To Teach Our Children:

- Don’t interrupt others.
- Careful of what you say.
- Respect.
- Rudeness.
- Manners in public places.

Can you think of things you can teach your children using the above mentioned ideas?  You can also show your children Good Manners by watching the video of Beyonce. Beyonce won the best video of the year award, but instead of having her moment to shine, she asked that Taylor come back out and give her speech that was interrupted. This showed true manners and great etiquette.

Good Manners to Learn from this Video:
- Gracious Behavior (both Beyonce and Taylor)
- Not Speaking bad of others. After the show Taylor was asked how she felt, she stated she had no ill-will towards Kanye. It takes a lot of guts to walk away and this girl did it with style.
- Sharing.
- Don’t Make a Scene. Taylor could’ve cried on stage and made a big scene, instead she quietly walked off the stage. How would your child have handled the situation?

In case you didn’t know, this is actually National Good Manners Month.  Could you think of a few other manners that we need to start teaching our children? Has something bugged you in public that you wished the child/parent had manners? What were they?