Got a call the other day from Jenny, my mid kid. She was calling to thank me for teaching her and her sisters manners when they were youngsters. Jenny is currently living in the Baltimore, Md. area while her husband is stationed at a nearby military base. She gets out quite often with my little grandbaby, Avenleigh. Jen tells me she is amazed at the complete lack of manners she’s seen while shopping and dining out.

Mom, people here just don’t say Please and Thank you, she lamented.  I just can’t believe how rude they are!

Well honey I told her, perhaps they’ve just not been brought up that way.

But Mom, isn’t it common sense?

Well, no dear Jen, it is NOT common sense. 

There is rudeness everywhere, it’s not confined to the East Coast or anywhere else.  Please and thank you should be taught from the age a child learns to talk, but alas it isn’t always that way. I guess mine caught on, because I have very polite daughters who  are teaching their children manners as well. My grandsons all know the magic words. And if they forget, they get gentle reminders.

When I was a child, you had better mind your “p’s & q’s” – a phrase that has been interpreted many ways, but in OUR home, it meant you better behave and you better remember your manners.

It was great to hear from my own daughter that she did indeed learn the lesson!