Do Manners Still Matter?
b'Manners have been around since at least 2300 BC, when Ptah-Hotep wrote on papyrus that one should refrain from \\u201cspeaking evilly\\u201d and from staring at people.\\nAnd as parents, we say manners still matter\\u2014 to quote Margaret\\u2019s mother, no one likes a bratty kid.\\nBut which manners still matter? We think author Tamar Adler put it best in her \\u201cManners Manifesto\\u201d:\\nPerhaps the way to distinguish useful etiquette from frippery is to discern which rules help us be good rather than seem good\\u2026 Whatever unites [us] merits keeping, and what divides can be folded and stored away with the linen too old and ornamental to use.\\nEating the food you\\u2019re served, saying please and thank you, holding the door? All that makes other people happy. So our kids should do it.\\nAlthough getting them there? That\\u2019s easier said than done.\\nIn this episode we talk about\\n\\xa0\\n* why manners are all about context\\n* why other people\\u2019s manners rule (even if they\\u2019re not yours)\\n* whether it\\u2019s okay to expect (and perhaps forcefully elicit) good manners in your friends\\u2019 kids\\n* why thank you notes suck but we have to make kids do them anyhow\\n* why manners require constant reinforcement\\n* why everyone should stop listening to videos in public places without headphones because that\\u2019s just absolutely the worst\\n\\xa0\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'