April 6: Thoughts for the Day

Posted on April 6, 2014 by John Swinburn

If I had children, they would have good manners, else they would have time in shackles to mull over their poor manners.

About John Swinburn

"Love not what you are but what you may become."― Miguel de Cervantes
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4 Responses to April 6: Thoughts for the Day

  1. John Swinburn says:
    April 7, 2014 at 5:06 am

    Pauline, you’re right, of course. Children learn their manners, or lack thereof, largely from their parents. I suppose my post was saying, in a crude way, that the shackles would be my teaching tool! Clay, while I’m not in favor of going overboard with such stuff, I firmly believe kids need to be taught manners, which naturally involves lessons in empathy and concern for others. I don’t think manners are necessarily the natural result of empathy and concern, though; it’s only part of the equation. Pauline’s points, I think, are dead on. In my view, it’s far more than just instruction in conventional behavior, it’s setting parameters of behavior that may be conventional but more importantly are limits to behaviors that are offensive and disruptive.

  2. Mosha says:
    April 6, 2014 at 5:56 pm

    I agree wholeheartedly with both leadersonfire and Clay Swinburn. In particular, Clay’s remark over “If you have some empathy and concern for others, decent manners come without instruction or conventional behavior”. He said it all!

  3. Clay Swinburn says:
    April 6, 2014 at 1:33 pm

    The closest I have come as an adult to beating the *** out of one of our brothers is when he spanked my boys for not remembering to call him “sir.” Good manners are overrated. If you have some empathy and concern for others, decent manners come without instruction or conventional behavior.

  4. leadersonfire says:
    April 6, 2014 at 11:26 am

    When I first read this post, I read the word children as chickens. And I laughed at the thought of teaching chickens manners or anything for that matter with those little brains. Then I read it again and laughed at myself for thinking it was about chickens. Children emulate the people they are around, so if you are exposed to children without good manner it’s not their fault, it is the fault of their parents. It is as much role modeling as it is teaching. Some adults have never been taught or learned good manners. How can you expect their children to have them?

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