I have a strong belief that teaching manners to our kids is SO important. Teaching our kids to have manners is to teach them to know how to socially behave in different situations and show respect to others and themselves. We use manners when we patiently wait before interrupting a conversation, calmly accept the word “no”, and kindly share our toys with others. Those three examples just happen to be three of my daughter’s biggest etiquette hurdles. You can imagine my delight when I was
asked to review an amazing curriculum centered on teaching manners to kids.
What is Etiquette Factory?
This is a great tool to help you teach your kids manners! Etiquette Factory is a 12 week course to teach your child a variety of social skills… everything from telephone manners to table etiquette. Each etiquette skill is focused over the space of one week. The etiquette skills are broken down into three phases according to your child’s age. It would easily fit into any school setting- from preschool to high school (because those big kids may need to learn manners, too).
There is a fantastic movie component to this curriculum. Miss Manners, the most well behaved southern lady I have ever seen, teaches the kids by clearly defining each manner, telling stories, singing songs, and reviewing important skills. I love the DVD- it makes it SO easy to teach my daughter her manners in a way she can easily relate to and it’s super easy for me!
While the DVD is fabulous, take time to read the teacher manual! There are some great additional activities, discussion questions, and treat ideas to help your kiddos understand their etiquette! This manual provides you with a detailed schedule for teaching your child her manners. There are lessons for 5 days a week. Each lesson takes approximately 15 minutes- but can easily be adjusted to take longer or shorter if needed. I would stress the importance of not rushing the program to ensure that your kiddo really understands and solidifies their knowledge of each etiquette skill.
We started the Etiquette Factory program as soon as we received it! My daughter LOVES it. We will role play each of the etiquette skills with her stuffed animals, listen to the accompanying CD in the car (another great tool to teach your kids manners), or snuggle up to daddy and watch the DVD.
We love this program (and the lovely Miss Manners) so much that we did this fun culminating activity! I printed a pic of my daughters face and turned her into Miss Manners! I then asked her to tell me different rules of etiquette and wrote her responses on the flowers on her hat.
I highly recommend this program to any parent or teacher- there is nothing like this program available and it is SO well done!