"Ann Porter" wrote in message
...
Little boy is almost four. We are trying to teach him some manners.
Thinks
like:

Say "please" and "thank you,"
please knock before you come in to our bedroom
Say "may I be excused?" when you're done with dinner
please don't interrupt.

We are having varying degrees of success. "Please" and "thank you" are
actually the hardest. He seems to think that saying "please" means he has
to "plead" with us, which is not what we're going for at all - we just
want
him to ask a polite question, rather than issuing a demand. I prefer "May
I
have some chocolate milk, please?" to "I want some chocolate milk."

"Please don't interrupt" is also rather difficult for him. I'm having a
lot
of trouble having even a five minute conversation with my husband these
days!

On the upside, he got "knock before entering" very quickly, and "may I be
excused" after about two days.

Any suggestions?

Best,
Ann




With my dd's when they want something, if they say "I want chocolate milk,"
I reinforce that they need to use their asking words.. so then they'll say
"Please can I have some chocolate milk?" Its taken a bit of repetition on
my part, and I feel a little annoying, but as of late, I hardly ever have to
remind them to use asking words instead of telling words.
As for interrupting, it seems like we've been working on that forever, and
my 4 1/2 year old just yesterday said, "sorry for interrupting, but
Mommy..." which was more polite than just speaking over me, right?
I'd say you just have to be consistent about what you expect him to do. And
be patient.