Book Review: A book on manners

I mentioned last week that I had just finished a great little book on manners. Elbows Off the Table, Napkin in the Lap, No Video Games During Dinner by Carol McD. Wallace is a straight-forward guide to teaching your child manners. Her book is broken down into age ranges (3-5, 6-9, & 10-12) as well as categories (i.e. Meeting Adults, Table Manners, Manners of Speech, Play Dates, etc.). I read the entire book in one day (that is to say, it's a quick read - not that I have hours on end to read an entire book in a day!). I really like the way she broke down the expectations by age range so that I can have a good idea of what to expect from my children now (at ages almost 2 and 3.5). She also points out that manners are always a work in progress and won't be magically mastered at any age. But the idea is to be consistent in your expectations so that a small reminder will suffice to prompt your child to exhibit the correct behavior.

The expectations at the Basic Training level (ages 3-5) are indeed pretty basic. We are currently working on Meeting People (say hello, say your name, say nice to meet you) as well as table manners (sit still, ask to be excused, clear your place).

As a side note, I checked this book out from my local library. We have a Parenting section alongside the kids' books that makes it easy for me to browse through and pick a few each week we visit the library. Thank God for our library - it saves us tons of money and provides endless books for our enjoyment!