Manners: A Lost Key in Raising Children, by John Cuddeback, Blogger

Although the lack of manners today is generally noted with disapproval, we often do not think of manners as a central feature of how we raise our children. But manners are arguably the major instance of a concrete, tangible thing we are failing to pass on, to the great detriment of all of us.

As a parent I understand why this happens. We focus on the larger things that obviously pertain to a right world-view and good moral standards. Manners—at least beyond the most rudimentary such as ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ (though sometimes those too)—slip under the radar. This is compounded by the fact that for many parents, especially the younger among us, key mannerly practices have already been lost, and so parents lack a connatural feel for patterning and inculcating them. And it goes without saying that the community at large is not helping us in this. …

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