How Did Manners4Minors Start?
I have lived and breathed Manners4Minors since developing it in 2007 and am in absolute awe of the results it has achieved. I still pinch myself when I get emails of appreciation from parents & teachers! Truth be told, this started as a labour of love for one little boy who had been very harshly judged for not showing appropriate behavior … “No manners” they said. My heart ached because I realized that he simply had not been guided. I am so proud to be the catalyst to supporting and assisting children, parents and teachers with positive behavior management.
I am a Wife to the love of my life (33 years!), Mom to three beautiful children (aged 26, 21 & 12), a grandmother to my precious little Aaryn (so, yes, I understand the challenges of parenthood), a hard-working entrepreneur and I have been blessed with a yearning in my soul to positively make a difference (which influences me beyond all else). There are parents, teachers and schools out there who are aware of the benefits of raising a respectful, helpful, kind and considerate child!
As a Director of The Mountain Cambridge School (www.themcs.co.za) I chose Foundation Phase implementation because this is the most crucial stage of a child’s life and where, I felt, we would have the best chance of introducing these lessons with the best result (in the Window of Opportunity age). The rest, as they say, is history. From a little seed has developed a life-altering program that will affect many children and influence their ability to become effective citizens and future leaders.
WHY DID IT BECOME NECESSARY TO DEVELOP A PROGRAM LIKE THIS?
Upon reflection of the success with which Manners4Minors was received by children, parents and schools, I spent some time on the reason why a program like this would be necessary. Surely manners and social skills are taught at home? Basically, my research came up with a very simple answer: LIFESTYLE. Our lifestyles have changed and the environments where these skills where handed over quite naturally in the past (family dinners, Sunday family get-togethers, etc.) has, in general, diminished. This is due to a few factors:
- High costs of living have forced both parents to work and therefore the quality of time and parental supervision has diminished.
- Many single parent families exist where the parental role becomes pressured by time constraints, work pressures, homework deadlines and generally the stress of everyday living.
- Technology, televisions and gaming systems in children’s bedrooms have isolated them, with a grave impact on social skills, and have resulted in a decline in the time families spend together.
- Cultural diversity is to be respected at every level, but exposure to universally acceptable behaviour and etiquette is invaluable for every child.
- Our relationships with our children have changed. Remember the old days when children were seen and not heard? Our generation of parents have become FRIENDS with their children and invite their opinions and views. Our children are very welcome to take part in adult conversation and social occasions. This has resulted in a relationship which is open and honest but not one necessarily based on a healthy level of respect. Parents have become child–pleasers and instead of children wanting to make their parents proud, we have parents who are living up to the expectation of their children. We, somehow, have been conditioned to endeavour to meet our children’s expectations of us.
HOW DO WE MAKE SUCH AN IMPACT IN A SHORT SPACE OF TIME?
Miss Manners gives one weekly half hour lesson at schools. She is fun, interactive and extremely passionate about positively affecting each child she encounters. She, by nature, is optimistic and caring and this endears her to children. The overall objective for each Miss Manners is to demonstrate to the children what reaction they can expect when they use the good manner or life skill being presented, and the reaction they can expect when they don’t! By being well informed and educated, the children leave with a clear understanding of the choice they have and the consequence. Ultimately, if they make the wrong choice …. we have created CONSCIENCE because they know better.
This is achieved through the use of our four famous puppet characters and the connection of feeling what is expected: what does BRAGGING feel like? Do we like it? What does BEING PROUD feel like? This is the ultimate success of the program: Attaching FEELING to INFORMATION – the most common words spoken by a Miss Manners “And, how does that make us feel?”
Click here to Meet the Puppets and find out a little more about them.
Support resources include Home Merit Charts for parents, Songs, Poems, Colouring-In Sheets, Activities, Worksheets, Classroom Merit Charts for teachers and Star of the Week stickers for motivating participation. Emails are sent to parents sharing the topic of the week to ensure reinforcement/communication and various resources are shared. Click here to print our four puppets to colour in, cut out and stick on ice cream sticks for quick roleplay activity (using the script from Meet The Puppets). Notice how quickly the children relate simply to the characters!
Ultimately, although we teach practical skills and behaviour management, we are establishing a healthy core value system of the child encouraging: Willingness to please, Consideration for others, Empathy, Respect, Self-confidence, Self-esteem, Kindness, Conscience ….