When we teach our children about manners, we want to be sure that we are not creating doormats who can not stand up for themself. Although, of course, young children should be polite. Although they should say please and thank you and excuse me when necessary, they also need to learn how to be assertive and respect themselves enough not to put up with bad behavior from others.
How do we balance these two seemingly conflicting goals?
We can start by teaching our kids the difference between being polite and submissive — which we could all use as a refresher course on ourselves!
We can teach them that sharing a toy is an appreciated concept, but not when they haven't even played with the toy.
We can teach them to recognize destructive behaviors, learn not to accept them, and stop them.
We can teach them that being polite is an essential skill toward others, and so is being considerate towards themselves and expecting the same politeness from others.
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