Manners4Minors

As parents we have all had moments with our children where they just don’t seem to have manners. Be it at restaurants or shopping malls, children will sometimes always have temper tantrums. So parents, no matter how hard they try teaching their children manners, feel defeated that they don’t. But fear not dear parents, for there is a solution. It is called Manner4Minors.  A weekly lesson that takes place at your child’s school and thoroughly teaches them good manners.

About Manner 4 Minors

“MANNERS4MINORS is a specialized program designed for children in the foundation phase (pre-school, Reception, Year 1 and 2) and is aimed at introducing them to the benefits of having good manners and displaying universally acceptable social skills.

Through the use of interactive role play, props, puppets and interesting environments – together with positive reinforcement, peer encouragement and a carefully designed curriculum, it stimulates interest in manners that will extend beyond the school walls, and which will have a positive impact on every aspect of their lives.  Predominantly through demonstrating emotional responses towards well-mannered children, we have succeeded in enriching the lives of children who participate in the program. Manners4Minors has a proven technique to impact on children’s social development.”

What I think

At the start of the year, we were given a whole lot of extra-mural activities that the kids could take part of at the school. Naturally Robbie was very happy about the Playball and Cricket, while I was rather taken with Manner4Minors.  They promised to teach children good manners and how to act in social situations. 

Robbie did have good manners but I noticed that he was picking up the “bad traits” from friends at school that he was bringing home.  I thought what could go wrong with sending him to this weekly lesson, he could only get better, right?

And boy was I right!  After about two weeks Robbie was embracing the lessons he was learning, singing the songs and teaching them to me too. It was after all things I needed to learn to if I was to help him achieve his goals.  He is always telling me to use the magic words and be prepared when you don’t respond with “it’s a pleasure”.  Or if he sneezes and you don’t say “bless you”, he will politely tell you he sneezed and that you need to say it the amount of time he did sneezed.

Manners4Minors gives them a welcome pack. It contains an A3 Home merit chart, which you use to award or take away stars, based on the behaviour of the child. There are also puppets which are used in class to teach the different lessons.  There are also three different pages with star stickers on them. First page has only 1 star on each sticker, the second 2 stars and the third 3 stars.

The star stickers are used to grade your child’s behaviour during the week. 1 Star is not so good, 2 is average and 3 stars is excellent. They place these stickers on bottle tops from coke and juice bottles. They then take them to school on the day of the lesson and present them to the teacher. She in turn gives them “mias” (Manners Money) which they keep till the end of the year. At the end of year they can buy something from the Manners Shop. So basically an incentive to keep working hard.

The lessons are made to be fun and interactive. Parents also get a weekly update on what the children are learning so they can be prepared.  The teachers are helpful and work exceptionally well with the children.

There are also Bully Lessons. The children are taught what bullies are, how to overcome being bullied and are also taught a song about bullies. This will aid children as they go into Primary school.

I have to say very huge thank you to our teacher Karen Taylor. She is such a star with the children and all the kids love her. I have seen a huge improvement in Robbie since taking him there. She is helpful and extremely caring.

I would definitely encourage all parents to enroll their children in the course. Even if you think your child has good manners, they will only be benefiting from this course. And for only R 120 per month it is well worth it.

You can get all the information you need on the Manners4Minors website,  and if Mannors4Minors is not at your school, you can request that they come give a presentation. You never know if more parents would like their children to join in too. The lessons are for 3 – 7 year olds.

There is also an iPad app, which helps the children learn and has exercises to help them practice what they learn in class. 

Would you ever put your child in a program like this? Do you think your child would benefit from it?