Friday, June 4, 2010

Almost Summer


It's been hot here.
I'm never ready for this kind of heat.
It seems to zap me of all energy, inspiration, and good manners.
Okay, the last description there was a bit of an exaggeration. I'm a manner freak...or some would say. And now that we're on the subject, I would like to know why manners aren't taught to most kids nowadays?! Is it really that hard??? We homeschool and you would think that I would see lots of mannerly kids in the circles that we socialize in, but honestly there are still a few that portray about as much etiquette as a baboon!
Sorry about that...remember, I'm hot right now and when I'm uncomfortable I tend to get real honest.
My kids are no angels, but they are required to speak when spoken to...and look at the person that is speaking to them. I make my kids apologize when they've purposely hurt or even accidentally hurt another child. My children are required to ask nicely using the words "please" or "may I" when they want something.
Sure it takes lots of consistency, but isn't that what parenting is all about...training.
We have a puppy.
She wants on the porch and is not allowed on the porch. Therefore we are constantly scolding her when she steps up on the porch. It works when done on a consistent basis.
She has made a wonderful little place for herself now in my front flower garden right in front of the porch. I'm fine with that...I've learned enough after all these years to know how to pick my battles. But my point is that with consistency a child will learn and exercise what we've taught them.
Oh my, I hadn't met to "blog" about manners, it's the heat I tell ya...it made me do it.
Stay cool, Julie




3 comments:

Jane Deskis said...

Hi Julie, I like the site - I can comment back. We have a brick flooring for the coop and I use the deep layering method of pine shavings. They say 4-6 inches thick, but ours is about 2 inches right now. We scrape the stuff off the boxes and around the roosting bars a couple of times a week. Get the heavy stuff off the floor and mix the rest in, then dump more pine shavings. I'll do a big clean - sweep all of it out in October, add a deep layer for winter, and then next march that will all be scooped out to the garden.
My neighbor uses hay. she has a layer on the floor, under the roosting bar, which is over the nesting boxes and in the nesting boxes. Hers is easy, too, scrape some straw and poo into a bucket, replace the straw and that's it. She uses a claw garden tool to scrape.
The cherries will mainly go into smoothies, maybe some turnovers, bread, I might try a gluten free pie. Half of them will go back to the neighbor.

CrossView said...

Hi! I popped over from E,F&B's... I was just on a rant about the same thing the other day. I don't expect perfection from kids but basic manners would be nice. =/

Timmy Jimmy said...

Hi Julie,
Yes, we are trying to teach the boys manners as well. It's been hard, but we were rewarded last week when I took Andy with me to a small political rally for some Republicans. Everyone commented on how polite he was. He turned into a perfect gentleman when I needed him to. So yes, it is training and sometimes, they actually have manners.
Blessings
Timothy