Yes, Please. Thanks!: Teaching Children of All Ages Manners, Respect and Social Skills for Life

The story so far …

When we self-published Yes, please. Thanks! in June 2004 it caused such a media frenzy that we were taken completely by surprise. Unfortunately, we were also totally unprepared; so unprepared that the book was still at the printers! I had always hoped that we would get some coverage in newspapers and magazines but I never imagined it would make national news.

It all started back in February when my friend and neighbour Jacqui McCarthy, of d’Image Ltd, organized an interview for me with the social-affairs editor of The Times (a neighbour with a PR company and a villa in the South of France – they don’t come any better than that!).

The social-affairs editor had kindly asked me roughly when I would like the article (which I had not seen) to run. I had a cunning plan that if it was published two weeks before the book was first in the shops, my distributors could use the article to sell it to a great deal more outlets. Then, when the book finally hit the shops I would contact the likes of Jeremy Vine, This Morning and Richard and Judy, show them the article and beg and plead with them to let me come and discuss it on their shows. Best laid plans…

Monday, 31 May, Bank Holiday, 10.45 pm

The phone rings. My son Sam answers it and tells me it’s a reporter from the Daily Mail. I naturally assume it’s a friend winding me up but, as it turns out, it is a reporter who says he is reading about Yes, please. Thanks! in the first edition of The Times and would like to ask me some questions. I ask him what size the article is and whether it is pro the book. He tells me there is a double-page spread about the book with supporting articles and it is very pro the subject. I am speechless, but only momentarily as I have to go and wake up the rest of the family to tell them. We are all so excited it takes me ages to get to sleep.

Tuesday, 1 June, 7 am

I am woken by Radio Five Live asking if I could get to the nearest BBC radio station, which is in Reading, within the hour for a live interview and phone in. I immediately agree. Fortunately, it’s half-term and for the first time in years the children get up early on a non-school day to come and support me. After the show I am immediately informed that the Jeremy Vine Show has been on the phone, and could I do a live interview at lunchtime? Oh yes, please. On leaving the studio I rang home to be told, ‘The world has gone mad! Who do you want first, Sky News, Richard and Judy, This Morning, BBC Breakfast, Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, Woman’s Hour…?’ We simply couldn’t believe it.

But horror of horrors, live TV!? I’m not prepared, I haven’t got anything to wear, I’m having a bad-hair day and there is no time to do anything about it. Even worse, if you can imagine anything worse, the book was not yet in the shops.

From then on it was a marketing dream and a publisher’s nightmare. Incredible national coverage, but no books and our publishing name, Panic Publishing, was not listed anywhere. Our printers, Unwin Bros, were wonderful and worked overtime to get it to our distributors, Gazelle Book Services, in record time, who immediately sent it out to shops and wholesalers. Finally, we were home and dry, or so I thought. Oh, how little I knew. Two weeks later I was still receiving press and doing regional radio interviews, but the book was only just filtering in to the mainstream shops. I had never considered or calculated the time it would take to get from the distributor, sometimes via wholesalers and warehouses, to bookshelves.

The Greatest Reward

Although the media coverage was more than I could ever have hoped for, the reaction to the book from parents was my personal reward. One mother, who tried and tested the book, wrote about her success in the ‘Femail’ section of the Daily Mail which was a far better recommendation for the book than anything I could ever have written. This was the purpose of writing it, to help guide parents to having better-behaved and well-mannered children.

…and Finally in Safe Hands

The final chapter of my publishing adventure came with a call from Carole Tonkinson at HarperCollins asking if they could take over the publishing of the book and re-launch it in April 2005. It was received with open arms. And just as I am going to let their experience help me, I hope you will let my experience help you.

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The Buck Stops Here

Everything we buy these days comes with hard and fast care instructions. Whether it’s a pair of knickers or a frying pan we are told exactly how to look after them.

But a child doesn’t come with instructions. We simply leave home one day and return with a small human life which is totally dependent on us for love, food, comfort, education, clothing, a home, and for being brought up to be a well-balanced, well-behaved, well-adjusted, confident individual. WHAT? The responsibility of it all is enough to make any parent break out in a sweat and lay down in a darkened room with a large, nerve-calming drink.

So is it simply good luck if we have well-behaved children who are a delight to be around, or incredibly bad luck that we end up with uncontrollable, rude, disrespectful little ‘horrors’ that are a constant nightmare and embarrassment to us?

Let’s face it, how many times have we thought or said about someone else’s children:

‘Why on earth does she let those children do that?’ ‘Just as long as they don’t bring those ghastly children.’ ‘Did you see the way that child was eating?’

Imagine if these comments were directed at your own children. Now don’t panic, even if you suspect they already have been, and don’t criticize or label yourself a bad parent and accept things the way they are – just address the problem. Get back in control.

The good news is that all children can be brought up to be well-behaved, well-mannered, polite and respectful, regardless of their personality or character. Obviously, all children are different and a very strong-willed child may need a stronger sense of his boundaries than a calmer, quieter child but both can be equally well-behaved and a credit to their parents.

But How?

Teaching good behaviour, manners and respect starts almost from day one. The way we are with our children from the very early days will start to form and mould the way they are going to behave. So basically, it’s easier if we don’t let them get into bad habits and then try and correct them. It is so much easier, for everyone concerned, if they learn everything the right way from the beginning, not dissimilar to puppy training.

For example, if we take a puppy to training classes as early as possible, it will learn to walk correctly on a lead, sit and stay when told. But if we don’t train it from an early age, by the time we realize our dog is uncontrollable and we decide to start teaching him, our problems have multiplied tenfold. That old saying, ‘One word from me, and he does as he likes’, can equally be said about some children.

The sooner you start the easier it is.

Manners and Respect in the 21st Century – Why We Still Need Them

Manners, respect and simple courtesies should be second nature to everyone. They should not be considered as some sort of optional extra, as if we were deciding whether to have an electric sun-roof or tinted glass in a new car. They are as important as the steering wheel! And manners are not just about saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’; they show a consideration for our fellow man and are a condition of a civilized society. They are the oil that smoothes the machinery of society.

The acid test of our children’s behaviour is how others perceive it. Their social education is as important as their academic one. As someone once said, manners are worth another A-level. You are actually disadvantaging your children if you don’t teach them, so come on, put in that time and effort. After all, don’t they deserve the best?

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How the Wrong Foods Can Affect Children’s Behaviour, Health and IQ

There’s no point trying to teach your children how to behave when the food and drink they are consuming are working against you both. It’s like wanting a good night’s sleep but drinking a gallon of Turkish coffee an hour before bedtime! It simply isn’t going to happen.

The Scary Facts

Most children eat far too many fast-food products, pre-prepared meals, processed foods, fizzy drinks, snacks, sweets, biscuits and cakes, and almost all of these products may contain some type of food colouring, preservative, salt and sugar. These additives are a kind of ‘food makeover’, disguising poor nutritional food with colour and artificial flavour to make it more attractive to children.

But the increased consumption of these foods and the decline in the foods which are good for children, such as fresh vegetables, fruit, fish, meat and cheese, has sadly begun to take its toll. Hyperactivity, moodiness, obesity, long-term health problems and poor intellectual performance can all be connected to a poor diet.

Behaviour and Food

For years, parents have voiced their concern about the possible link between food colourings, preservatives and behavioural changes in their children, but the food manufacturers and government have been constantly dismissive, claiming their theories lacked scientific evidence.

However, results from the first UK government-sponsored study have shown that children who were given colourings and preservatives were reported by their parents to be ‘fiddling with objects’, ‘disturbing others’, and having ‘difficulty settling down to sleep’, ‘difficulty concentrating’ and ‘temper tantrums’.

The researchers further claimed that if the problem additives and preservatives were removed from children’s diets, hyper-activity would be reduced from 1 in 6 children to 1 in 17.

Health and Food

In this health-conscious, diet-addicted era in which we now live, during the past ten years there has been a 70 per cent increase in obesity among three-and four-year-olds. Obesity in three-to four-year-olds? If this doesn’t ring alarm bells, what will? And if that isn’t scary enough, it is now recognized that obesity leads to increased risk of heart disease and diabetes.

The cause is quite simply a poor diet and lack of exercise.

Poor Diet

Although children enjoy eating crisps, sweets, snacks and processed foods, and however quick and convenient they may be for the parents, these foods are the worst culprits.

Too much salt

Too much salt will withdraw calcium from the body which children urgently need to develop strong bones, teeth and nails. It will also increase the risk of osteoporosis, asthma, stroke, heart attack, water retention and raised blood pressure in later life.

The maximum recommended intake of salt per day is:

An average 7–10-year-old’s daily diet may include:

That is over twice as much as the recommended allowance and does not include any salt added at the table.

Most food packaging says how much sodium is in the product. To calculate how much salt that is, multiply the amount of sodium by 2.5. Example: 1g sodium = 2.5g salt.

Too much sugar

For years we have known that sugar has disastrous effects on children’s teeth and contributes towards obesity. But it is also a stimulant which affects children’s blood-sugar levels, producing short bursts of energy or hyperactivity followed by an immediate low, which can manifest itself in moodiness or difficult behaviour and a craving for more sugar.

The brain chemicals which affect people’s moods, including depression, are called serotonin and beta endorphins. Doctors now believe that there is a direct link between glucose (what pure white sugar breaks down into in our bodies) and these chemicals.

An excess of white sugar can change the normal biochemical ‘pathways’ of both, resulting in moody, unmanageable and disruptive children who make everyone’s life a misery, including their own. Products made mainly from pure white flour will also convert into pure sugar in the body with the same effect.

A can of cola contains both sugar and caffeine, combining two stimulants. If children drink a can at lunchtime the caffeine will still be in their system by the evening and we know what that means – T-R-O-U-B-L-E. These poor children will not be able to sit still at school or around the dinner table and will find it difficult to fall asleep. Be on the safe side and avoid all sugary foods at suppertime, offering fruit as an alternative dessert or snack.