People were complaining the same thing 200 years ago. Why do they do it?
Why do people come online with a snarky question they seem to know the answer to?
A conundrum indeed!
Because the people that had to walk to scho, uphill, both ways, in thigh high snow, need something to talk about!
Most adults in America have very poor manners...they are lacking in the social graces and they don't always know proper table etiquette and social etiquette.
If adults don't know, how are kids supposed to know? I would actually love to send my dd to an etiquette class. I wish someone would have taught me all this stuff.
I complain that I can't find my reading glasses. (And there they are on my head.)
What else is new? People complain about all kinds of stuff...
Usually, because they want someone else to do the teaching.
Most of us aren't so big in the gratitude department - we hear on Mamapedia all the time of people who don't RSVP, who want their other children invited to one kid's birthday party, who provide extensive gift lists or gift registries for every conceivable occasion, who don't sit their kids down to write a thank you note or make a "thank you drawing" for a gift received, and so on. We don't hold doors when entering stores or offices, don't let people cut into the traffic in front of us, don't stop for pedestrians, don't pull over for ambulances, don't donate blood or give to charity.
We don't demonstrate good manners ourselves (let alone good writing skills), and we don't demand it in our children or give them consequences for poor manners. We just complain. And I do think it's worse now, when more people are texting than looking people in the eye and speaking to them.
Because as societal norms change the older generation resists the change.
It seems raising kids with proper manners is just not a priority for many people. I believe just a basic level of graciousness is important. Manners and kindness for me goes hand in hand.
Because there are new things to complain about. I don't like the trend of not RSVPing, for example. Leaving people hanging is bad. Not thanking people for gifts received is bad. Not using proper respect for elders is bad. Just because it was a complaint 200 yrs ago doesn't invalidate the concern. I do take the time to hold doors, send notes, and generally try to show good manners to my child. But many people do not and it shows. Some of our friends don't even make their school-aged children sit at a table for meals because it's "too hard" to enforce that. Boggles the mind, really.
Every generation says children are worse than the earlier generation.
I think people get grumpy in old age.
It also depends on how you grew up and where you live.
"One bad apple" and all of that can make it seem like kids have less manners.
Over all I see good kids with great manners where we live.
I do think that children are less mannerly nowadays. There is no way my generation would have yelled out, blurted out, walked around, and been generally disruptive in class. If we had, we would have been sent to the principal's office to get hit with a ruler.
I'm not saying that we should hit kids with rulers, but I do think that youngsters have less fear of authority, and act up more. This is not all bad, but it does have downsides.
In addition, as a society we are less mannerly. Look at the celebs of today (Miley Cyrus) vs. the celebs of the 50's (Ricky Nelson). I'm not saying it's all bad, but there it is.
because societal norms shift over generations, and each new one has new standards which are acceptable for them, and other ones that get left behind. and it's hard for those who were raised with them to see them disregarded.
it's normal. and it's been going on for WAY more than 200 years. it's like asking why we look to where a finger is pointing instead of at the finger itself. we're just hardwired for it.
khairete
S.
Because we love to complain! When we complain, we make ourselves feel that we're better than the person(s) at the other end of the complaint - and we don't have to do anything to earn that feeling except open our little mouths! I'm great, and you're so crummy! (Or is it, "You're crummy so I'm great"?)
Children are always losing their manners. That's something they do very well, even when their parents are doing their best to teach them. Grownups aren't always too good when it comes to manners, either.
Now, if it's my OWN children I'm complaining about with the manners - well, I can do something about that....
Because when they have an adult that is teaching them that routinely says thing like "YO! Dude, Ow's it doin'!". They don't use full sentences, they wear their pants down to their thighs to advertise they are for sale for sex, they have no manners themselves and aren't teaching their kids any.
Our society is not the same as the kids in the 50's or 60's. It has changed, of course we are different now. Technology has changed our world. We use email or facebook to communicate instead of calling someone on the phone.
We don't use good manners in any cases. It's rather sad to see this though.
It's because people like to complain.
We'd never be happy in heaven.
We'd end up complaining about the lack of things to complain about.
Some people like to think we go to a perfect place after we die.
I tend to think this has already happened, we are already there and this is as perfect as it gets.
I think its valid to continually raise the question of manners with children. I just mailed my adult niece and nephew $50 each as they recently graduated college and have not landed a job. One was laid off due to the store closing. The niece just emailed a joint thank you, However I did not send a joint check to split!
However, even adults need to check their manners. I have a close pal co-worker who regularly texts and checks Facebook when we meet to chat.
LOL.
But children are such great targets!
It's a 2 for 1 blue light special.
Talk badly about someone illequipped to defend themselves
And their parents cant defend them, as they're either considered too partial to be objective, or are too afraid the insult has merit.
Bang.
Aka: People are cowards.
