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Encourage and help your child write thank-you notes to friends and family for gifts large and small, favors, and even sleepovers.
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Have your child call family members before an upcoming birthday or anniversary to congratulate them.
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Discuss and practice proper telephone decorum (“Hello, this is Sam. May I please speak to Henrietta?”) and help them to hone their receptionist skills (“One minute, please.”)
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Working with your child to develop the habit of calling grandparents to wish them a Good Weekend goes a long way toward internalizing thoughtfulness.
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Polite interaction with adults can be taught through role-play and review; it usually doesn’t come naturally, especially for shy or awkward children.
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Teach your child to set a table properly.
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Actively teach reflective, empathetic listening by modeling it yourself and by helping your child rewrite his “script” privately, after engaging in a less than successful peer interaction.
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Forget “No elbows on the table” (baby steps…)— teach your kids not to yell across the street at the top of their lungs when they see their friends pass by.
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Train children to offer a cold drink to all visitors and to carefully take their hats and coats.
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Make “Excuse me, please” an ingrained phrase in your family, supplanting its boorish cousin, Push ‘n Shove.
