Here is another excerpt from a March 04 post-- and for the record, my oldest child is now 16 and I still wouldn't try to give advice about teenagers...

Here is my rant for today, and it is: parents who let their children get away with being rude, disrespectful and obnoxious. I won't touch the whole teenager thing since my oldest just got there and I don't have much experience. BUT sometimes I watch parents with their young children, 3 year olds even, and the kids talk back to them, contradict them, speak in a rude and obnoxious tone of voice (not to mention LOUD), and the parents DON'T DO ANYTHING. This astounds me. And then they wonder why their children are rude and disrespectful.

Here's the deal: children do not come out of the womb with manners. They have to be TAUGHT. You have to remind them over and over and over again to say "please" at the end of a request, and "thank you" after the request has been met. You have to say, "Don't talk to me in that tone of voice" and "Would you ask that more politely?" They don't know that it's unacceptable to be rude and obnoxious unless you TELL them. And telling them once isn't going to do it. You have to keep after them every day. You have to NOT give them what they want if they ask in a demanding, complaining, or whining tone of voice. "Ask me again politely." "How about saying please at the end of that question?" or just, "What's the magic word?" That's the hardest part for me, to remember not to respond to them when they're being rude, other than to tell them they're being rude. It's so easy to get absorbed in what you're doing and just do what they want to get rid of them. But manners are important. Being polite and respectful of other people is important. You have to make the effort.

So there.
Aunt BeaN