Learning manners is important for kids of all abilities to help them accept and be accepted in everyday society. There are commonly accepted manners for every aspect of living - ways that we in the society of our family use to best get along together.

Kids learn from others about acceptable manners - from parents, siblings, playmates, teachers, television and movies. It is a social skill that benefits everyone.

Children's books are written to teach through words and pictures just what good manners are. An example is Richard Scarry's Please and Thank You Book. In Mr. Scarry's book, better outcomes result from using good manners. By the end of the story, all the friends agree that they are a happier if each uses good manners in relating together.

The television shows - Barney the Dinosaur and Sesame Street use puppets, children, and adults acting out scenarios with good and bad manners, to show children that they will live happier lives if they live peaceably and in harmony with each other by using their good manners.

And just what are good manners in American society? All over the states we say through word or symbol 'please' and 'thank you' when we want a favor and when we receive a favor. That is probably the most universal set of words in this country. A smile says thank you, too. And the right thumb-up sign says okay or thank you in a symbolic and non-verbal way.

Regardless of the time period in history, the most basic of manners in America are that respect and politeness be shown in relationships and all interactions including showing respect for another's ideas by not interrupting their sentences.

Good manners are learned from our earliest days through the examples around us - from parents, siblings, the media and teachers. And as we grow into adulthood it is with the good manners of being polite and respectful to each other that we preserve our own inner harmony, and create harmony in our relationships with our family and the larger society.

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Article by Susan Kramer