Have you ever tried to maintain a degree of social etiquette with a toddler?\u00a0 If your toddler is anything like mine, then you probably failed despite your best efforts.<\/p>\n
My most recent attempt was at a friend\u2019s wedding last weekend.\u00a0 My daughter is loud and active, so we sat in an empty pew near the back so that she could wiggle or leave without causing a disruption.<\/p>\n
However, she is also incredibly polite.\u00a0 When my husband did have to take her out, she waved and yelled \u201cBye!\u00a0 Bye!\u201d until she was out of the sanctuary.<\/p>\n
Adorable?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Embarrassing?\u00a0 Slightly.\u00a0 But that\u2019s to be expected.<\/p>\n
I discovered a long time ago that it is almost impossible to maintain a proper degree of social etiquette with a toddler.\u00a0 So unless it\u2019s a big occasion (like a wedding), I don\u2019t.\u00a0 Instead I try to direct her chaotic energy in acceptable ways.<\/p>\n
For instance, grocery shopping is a nightmare for most parents I know.\u00a0 They make a list, they put their kid in the cart and they race against the clock to get everything.\u00a0 If they don\u2019t, their child may run around and play, making them look bad as parents.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s a terrible way to go shopping.<\/p>\n
My approach is to let my daughter help.\u00a0 She can play with the boxes and put them in the cart.\u00a0 She even helps push the cart.\u00a0 If she\u2019s especially rowdy and doesn\u2019t want to help, my husband will play games with her or help her do flips.\u00a0 One time they grabbed canisters of Maxwell House and started playing them like they were drums.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure etiquette gurus are probably groaning by now, asking themselves \u201cHow can she think this is okay?\u201d\u00a0 What I wonder in reply is why isn\u2019t<\/em> it okay?<\/p>\n So what if my daughter cheers for prayers instead of staying quiet?\u00a0 Or hugs children she doesn\u2019t know on the playground?\u00a0 Or sings to an imaginary audience in the grocery store?\u00a0 She\u2019s a wonderfully polite, enchantingly curious child.\u00a0 She\u2019s still learning.<\/p>\n Am I teaching her proper manners and behavior?\u00a0 I\u2019m doing my best.\u00a0 I whispered with her as long as I could at my friend\u2019s wedding before she had to go.\u00a0 No matter how hard I try, there will always be times when she yells at the top of her lungs because she thinks she\u2019s being polite.\u00a0 However, I refuse to be ashamed of this learning process.\u00a0 It\u2019s much more delightful to enjoy it while it lasts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever tried to maintain a degree of social etiquette with a toddler?\u00a0 If your toddler is anything like mine, then you probably failed despite your best efforts. My most recent attempt was at a friend\u2019s wedding last weekend.\u00a0 My daughter is loud and active, so we sat in an empty pew near the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[629,1976,628,624],"class_list":["post-2379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tartan-news","tag-kids","tag-meagan-ewton","tag-parenting","tag-toddler"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-Cn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2379"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2491,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379\/revisions\/2491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}