Manners

Thomas and I are constantly trying to teach the boys manners, which is a struggle at this age...and let's face it, will probably be a struggle until they're adults. Anyway, the constant reminders of "yes, ma'am/sir" and "no, ma'am/sir" only have about a 15% success rate right now. And 15% may be a bit generous.

Things that are working:

• They sometimes thank each other for helping out or doing something nice
• They do a good job of apologizing (when we make them) for hitting/pushing/fighting/etc
• When we leave school, they will say bye to their teachers and friends and holler while waving, "have a good night!"
• Stokes doesn't like to sit still at the dinner table for long, but will ask to be excused about 75% of the time when he's finished, instead of just hopping down and walking away
• Annnnnnddddd then there's my very favorite! Most every night, when we sit down for dinner, both Stokes and William will say, unprompted, "thank you for making dinner, Mama!" in their sweet little voices. It doesn't matter whether we're having 3 day old leftover tacos or some gourmet meal like hot dogs, mac and cheese and canned baked beans (I kid, I kid....about it being "gourmet"....but we absolutely eat dinners like that HA!). They are so sweet to thank me, or on occasion, their Dada, when he has grilled something for us. I really, really love hearing it!

Hearing them using manners gives me a glimmer of hope that we are doing a few things right! XOXO