The Magic Words

If you read my daughters blog, today she wrote about Jack finally saying "thank you". Now I am one who thinks the world would be a better place if everyone used their manners. Some people, I realize may have not had the good fortune to be told or showed the proper manners as a child . But that is were I come in. When I was growing up, my parents made sure I was taught and also made sure I used my manners. As a payback I made sure my children had the same teachings.. That is only fair don't you think? Now as I see my grandchildren coming up in this world where social graces just are not expected, I am glad my influence is still there. Honestly, don"t you think saying "please" and "thank you" can make even the hardest request sound pleasant? For instance, what if you said to your husband "take me out to dinner". That would not go over very well in my house. But if I said "honey, please lets have a date tonight and go out to eat". I still may have to settle for a "take-out" but that is still one of my four food groups.
I would say "thank you very much".

The world is so much more pleasant to live in when manners are used. One time recently, I went through a drive-thru to pick up some lunch. I pulled up to the window after placing my order at a first window to a person who looked at me and said nothing. Zip. Nada. Well it was not the day that I was willing to overlook rudeness. She literally flung the bag at me still not speaking and through clenched teeth I said "your welcome". She said "huh"? Then I took it upon myself to teach her what her Mama did not. I looked at her and said"your welcome" again. She had such a puzzled look on her face. I told her that when someone says" your welcome," that usually means someone has thanked that person first. She said grumbling "oh thank you". I don't know if she learned anything that day but I sure did feel better.

We teach our babies the "magic words" but we need to remember to use them ourselves. Oh, by the way, thank you for reading my blog.