For parents everywhere who have had lovely family dinners ruined by misbehaving children, help is at hand. This guide provides a humorous, hands-on, parent-friendly approach to teaching children of all ages good manners in a wide variety of social situations, from accepting gifts graciously to which foods are OK to eat with fingers. Each chapter tackles a different situation, gives a brief outline of what manners are appropriate for it, and offers advice on how to teach and reinforce them to children of different ages. There is also a “What to Expect” chart broken down by age, and a Q & A section devoted to questions concerning children and manners.
Lauri Berkenkamp is a mother of four children whose manners are improving daily and the author of Fern House: A Year in an Artist’s Garden and In My Garden Journal. She lives in Strafford, Vermont. Steven C. Atkins, PsyD, is an instructor and clinical associate at Dartmouth Medical School’s Department of Child Psychiatry. He lives in Hanover, New Hampshire.