If You Want My Advice #6

Teach your children how to be polite.
I know that sounds a little obvious.  And for the most part, conscientious parents do teach their children how to be polite.  But the greatest way that children learn is by watching others.  So while you may prompt your children to say "please" and "thank you,"  they will treat people the way that you do no matter how much prompting you give them. 
As someone who works with the public, I see lots of families and can tell a great deal about a person by how their children act when mom or dad isn't around.  I've had kids come up to me and ask for a book.  Some have impeccable manners.  They are the ones with parents who treat others with respect and honor.  They are the kids who know how to ask for something with an appropriate voice and respect for their elders.  Some kids ask for a book without uttering a pleasant or kind word.  I know that if many of their parents were standing there with them, they would be prompted to say "please", but without their parent, it just doesn't come.  And then there are the kids who interrupt, are demanding and ungrateful.  I can almost match those kids to their parents because the adults in their lives act exactly the same way.  They have adults in the lives who interrupt, are demanding and ungrateful.  And we all know that kids learn what they see. 
I know, kids are kids and they're still learning.  But trust me, they act just like their parents.  I'm often shocked at the manners of many adults.  I've been working with one patron and another will come up and stand so close, I'll stop and ask if they know each other.  And they don't!!  I've been working with one patron and another will come up and interrupt our conversation to ask their own question.  I've been working with a patron and when finished, he will just walk away without a word.  And in every scenario, the patron may have a son or daughter with him.  That is what the child sees and that is what the child does later.  I often find myself treating kids like my own and prompting them myself to be more polite.  I've said "I can only help you if you say it more politely."  Or "I'm helping this person right now.  You may stand over there and wait."  Of course, I haven't done this when their parent is present, but it has been tempting.  Don't get me wrong, I love children.  They have a eagerness and enthusiasm that should be encouraged.  I'm just hoping that parents will realize that their little ones are catching everything they do and emulating it.