do you have it?

Friday, April 8, 2011

my mom taught us how to write thank you notes.
she made us to eat with our elbows off the table.
to say please and thank you, yes ma'am and no ma'am.
to be polite and do the right thing.

she provided us with home-training.
that is what we call it on our house.
if you were not taught these things
well, you have no home-training.
and yes we talk about this very openly in our family.

today,  i took chace to a local rec center for open gym.
he loves it. he can run around and interact with other kids.
but these types of activities are an interesting study in human behavior,
more specifically parenting.
and home training.

as i was observing the chaos around us.
it was very evident which children
were going to have home training and which ones were not.

the child who kept screaming while slamming the riding motorcycle
on the ground while his father looked on.
no home training.
the little girl who shared her ball with chace.
home training.
the little boy who drove his motorcycle into chace
and then looked at me like chace did something wrong.
no home training.
the little girl who accidentally kicked chace but then apologized.
home training.

i could go on and on and on.
what amazes me is that children are just like their parents.
it is so obvious to recognize, even at such an early age.
so not only do i know who is going to have home training,
but i know which adults had no home training when they were young.

this is an aspect of parenting that is inevitable
i just did not think it be so soon.
and based on our outing today
i think we need more home training in the world.

just sayin.....

5 comments:

  1. Amen to that!
    My children had home training as did I growing up.

    Peggy in NJ

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  2. yes, I've never heard it called home training, but it's a great expression!
    I'm am frequently aghast at the general public. And then you meet some kids who are just so lovely and well behaved that it is crazy!

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  3. Building character in our children is so important. This doesn't "just happen" in our children...it has to be taught, and often by example from Mom and Dad. Keep up the great work you have already started with Chace.

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  4. Love this post of your's. It's nice to see there are other parents out there who believe in teaching manners at home and enforcing them in public.

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  5. I can do you one better:
    the young man who picks up your daughter for a date..comes in the house, greets you(the parents)...holds car door for said date....definitely in home training OR, the young man who stays in the car and honks...or texts to say he is outside....NO in home training.

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