Good • Strong • Safe

published on July 10th, 1:26 p.m.

“Yes sir. Yes ma’am. Please. Thank you. You’re welcome. May I have…? Excuse me…” Manners do matter.

People like to be treated nicely, just like you like to be treated nicely. When you use your manners, people think that you are a nice person and will want to help you. When you don’t use your manners, people think you are rude, selfish, or just not that smart. The important thing about manners is that we have to use them or lose them. They get rusty if we don’t use them often, so practice those manners every day. And the best people to practice your manners with is not just strangers, it’s with your family. You should be polite to Mom & Dad, or grandma and grandpa, yes, even to your sisters and brothers (we know that’s not always easy!)

So let’s go over those manners again… When you answer an adult you should say, “yes sir” or “no sir” or “yes ma’am” or “no ma’am”… not “yeah” or “uh-huh”. When you ask for something say, “May I have…?” not “I want…!” and be sure to throw in that magic word, “please”. When someone gives you something or does something for you say, “Thank you!” And when someone says “thank you” be sure to say “You’re welcome!” not just “sure” or “ok”. When someone says thank you, it’s like they are giving you a present, and they are using the word ‘you’ – so give them something back with the word ‘you’ in it too. When you don’t understand someone, don’t say “Huh?” It makes you sound like your head is hollow. The polite thing to say is, “Excuse me, I didn’t hear you,” or “Pardon me, could you repeat that?” We don’t use words like, “huh,” or “what?” Please remember that manners matter. When we are nice to other people we help them to have a better day…and sometimes we can keep arguments from happening just by using our good manners.

Thank you!

Be good, be strong & be safe.