3 tips for teaching your toddler manners
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Richard Bohn loves it when his two-year-old son, Parker, says please and thank you. ?I think to myself, ?Yeah, he?s got it. I?m a great parent,?? says the Edmonton dad. ?Then, a week later, he?s a little savage again. Teaching him manners is definitely an ongoing process, but I do think it?s important.?
Teaching your toddler manners is a good idea, says parenting expert Ann Douglas, author of The Mother of All Toddler Books, as long as you go in with patience. ?Every child is unique,? she says. ?Some will be aces at manners, and others are going to take a little longer to learn them.?
1. Mastering the basics
Your toddler?s understanding of social niceties will first come from observing how you handle the world. Your child will notice when you take the time to say hello to the bus driver or to thank someone for opening a door. Getting your toddler to acknowledge people properly and make eye contact is important?and a social skill that could easily disappear in a few generations, says Douglas. ?How will your toddler learn that he?s supposed to make eye contact in conversations if you?re always looking at your smartphone"? she says. ?If your child is colouring and mumbles a request for a drink, say, ?Please look at me so I can see you and hear what you?re saying.??
Being a tyrant about please and thank you is counterproductive though, says Douglas. ?Start encouraging your toddler, but telling him ?say please to Grandma or you can?t have juice? isn?t...
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