Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Didn’t your Mama teach you? Part I

A baby is a clean slate. I am determined to engrave good manners on Aaron’s slate; both the Chinese and Western variety. THIS, I have expectations...not hopes. The list is long but here are the few that come to mind based on what my own parents use to nag about.

1) Always greet people when you meet them. Address them by their titles if they are relatives, ‘Aunty or Uncle’ if they are Asian and ‘Mr/Mrs/Ms So-and-so’ if they are Caucasian.

2) Look at the person speaking.

3) If you need to interrupt, do so politely by saying ‘Excuse me’.

4) When leaving, say ‘Goodbye’ or something else appropriate.

5) Invite your elders to start the meal. This is a Chinese thing where each person older than you is invited to ‘Eat’ but I don’t really think I’ll enforce naming each and every person on the table. Maybe just to the eldest one or two people around. Usually it’s the mother and father.

6) Let all your elders start the meal before you.

7) For Chinese meals where the dishes are shared, don’t pick around for your favorite pieces. And don’t take the last piece without asking first.

8) No talking with your mouth full or stuffing your mouth so full you can’t chew with it closed.

9) No reading, iPods or other gadgets during meal times.

10) Wait until everyone has finished the meal before leaving the table. Obviously helping with the dishes is a must even in other people’s homes.

WOW! This is turning out to be a long list. Don’t want the post to get too long so I’ll have to make this Part I. Stay tuned!

5 comments:

Jean-Luc Picard said...

They are good guidelines for a child to follow, Amanda.

NomadicExpat said...

I'm glad my mom insisted on the same set of "guidelines" (and more!) growing up.

NomadicExpat said...

Oh, this is the ONLY thing that I dont agree with my mom. She thinks that kids are meant to be seen, not heard. So, that's the only thing that I will not instill in my kid if I ever have one.

k8 said...

the excuse me thing backfired on me bc now they scream it til i stop talking!

Amanda said...

captain, evelyn, thanks for always visiting and not lurking.

thanks for the headsup k8. i need all the help i can get from experienced moms!