Our children in public
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from May 1996.
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"Leave her alone; she will soon get over it. Remember, she is too little to understand. Let her run up and down, she is not hurting anyone!" expounded another well meaning older mother.
The poor confused mother sat down again with the screaming fractions, much to the agitation of those immediately around her, and the polite tolerance of the rest of the congregation. The minister shouted louder, and the baby became more upset. The more he shouted, the more the child fussed.
Then came a succession of "things" to distract the little lady, the toys, the bottle, the car keys and so on. How well we who have raised a baby remember all the tactics designed to help us get something out of the service. This mom tried everything, but nothing seemed to work.
All the same time, there was a group of teenagers talking and laughing on the back e?? I am not sure what they were getting out of the service, but as some members of the congregation pointed out, at least they were there!
Whether at church, or some performance on which the audience is concentrating it does seem that we do have a problem with our children demonstrating good manners in public. It appears that as adults we are more accepting of their bad form, because we have conceded to the lowering of societal standard.
We seem to have given up on the present generation, instead of trying to do what we can to change the current trend. At least we can work with our own families, making them understand what is required of them, and how their good manners or lack of them reflect their training and personality.
To help children develop good manners we, as parents, need to help the children be police to each other, as well as to ourselves at home. As parent we need to be polite to each other and to the children also, remembering that the children are great mimies.
Help children extend courtesies to each other. Do not allow rude interruptions alluring a conversation. Let each person wait his turn, or if there is a real need allow for "excuse me?"
Encourage generous use of "please' "Thank you" "excuse me" "I am sorry", etc. in the home and they will become more natural outside of the home.
Encourage children to speak in a reasonable tone and a satisfactory attitude. Shouting and snapping at each other in the home will soon be carried outside.
If the children misbehave at home, most have various methods of dealing with the problems, but encouraging good behaviour in the first place in consideration of others is a far better approach.
Deal with poor behaviour when the children misbehave in public. Speak calmly and firmly to the child without embarrassing him. If poor behaviour persists, take the child away from the crowd to deal with the matter, or as a last resort, take the child home. Older children can be dealt with by denying various privileges according to what has been predetermined in your household. Younger children must be firmly removed and not allowed to be disruptive. A swat on the appropriate place may be needed!
Never ignore poor behaviour, but ask God for wisdom to deal with it. Then just do it.
