MOTHERS AND MANNERS

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 182, 1 May 1931, Page 4

MOTHERS AND MANNERS

Home and School Training There are thousands of people in the world who do not understand the importance of good manners, and it is amazing how many mothers are among this number. Indeed, one is forced to the conclusion that they do not realise that a mother who is responsible for the bad manners of her child sends that child out into the world with a severe handicap, says a writer in “The Weekly Telegraph.” Some children, of course, are really quick on the uptake, and, from instinct, in spite of lack of parental, training, know when to do the right tiring, when to perform those little acts of courtesy and thoughtfulness which delight older people. These are the children who please and are popular, while other unfortunate infants offend, very often through ignorance, and consequently make enemies and incur the dislike of those with whom they come in contact.

I noticetl at a crowded gathering the other day there was a scarcity of chairs, four being occupied by small boys whose ages might have been from six to ten. In a crowded tram, also, I noticed three little boys sitting beside their mothers, while grown-ups swayed from the straps. In both cases the’ mothers were training the boys in bad manners. It passes my comprehension how any mother can let her small boy occupy a seat while grown-ups stand. In a tram or tube he can lean against her knee without troubling.anyone, and, could the mothers read tbc thoughts of others in such cases, she would find that one and all were condemning her and pitying the child. Later in Life. Later on these boys are taught courtesy in school and in the world at large, and it embarrasses them to respond, but the small boy who has from earliest days been taught to consider others has always a better beginning in life. Once I saw an incident in a cinema, where a family of> mother, auntie and a small girl and a nice schoolboy fussed into the front row. Two girls followed them, and there had been a miscalculation about the scats, and there was one short. One vacant seat was directly behind the party, and the small boy said; “I’ll go back, Mum, and then the ladies can sit together.” “No, we were here first, and we’ll stay together,” said the mother, and a blushing <md uncomfortable little boy sat down. He had obviously been taught courtesy at school, not at home. There is a reverse side to the picture. One sunny day the tram coming from a city recreation ground was’full; two small boys', ragged, healthy, happy, and dirty, carrying jars of tiny fish, occupied seats. An’elderiy lady and her daughter got in, and with one accord the two juvenile fishers got up and walked to the far end of. the tramj leaving their seats free. They talked animatedly to each other about their catch, and seemed to take their courteous action as the right thing to do, and the atmosphere of the tram wns happier..whereas the sight of one small boy, wriggling on the seat protected by a frowning mamma, makes a wave of- bad temper go round!

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