An African proverb says that "a child, who is not taught good manners by the parents at home, will disgrace the parents outside the home." This proverb underlies the importance of training a child on etiquette and good manners. Some parents ignore this part of their responsibility until they are shocked by their child's lack of manners outside. On the other hand, some children who have been trained to be ladies and gentlemen seem to forget all the training as soon as they are...
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An African proverb says that "a child, who is not taught good manners by the parents at home, will disgrace the parents outside the home." This proverb underlies the importance of training a child on etiquette and good manners. Some parents ignore this part of their responsibility until they are shocked by their child's lack of manners outside. On the other hand, some children who have been trained to be ladies and gentlemen seem to forget all the training as soon as they are outside the home.

When a child misbehaves or acts improperly before others, it is usually quite tempting to want to correct he child immediately to show that you really have tried teaching the child good behavior. The right thing to do is however to resist the temptation to correct the child in public and wait till you are alone.

Sometimes, a child may not know that he/she is acting improperly as he may be consumed by feelings of self consciousness. The parent can try to make eye contact with the child as a corrective measure to show that you do not like his action. When the other adults or children have moved on, the parent can then explain to the child what was done wrong and what should have been done.

There are times when the child's action in public is just too rude or extreme to be ignored till an appropriate time. At such a scenario, the proper thing to do is to take the child away from the scene to a private location where you can discuss the behavior. The discussion should not always involve berating the child, but should focus on what was done wrong and what should have been done.

To help children develop good manners, the child should know clearly what is acceptable from him/her. Parents should thus be clear on consistent on their expectations from their children and these expectations must be clearly communicated to the children. Role play practice is one good way to ingrain good behavior into children. Another good tool is for parents to teach their children with good examples as children tend to learn from what they see their parents doing. Finally, while it is important to correct children when they do wrong, it is even more important to compliment them when they do well. This helps to reinforce good behavior.
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