Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Thursday, March 21, 2013

Manners

Well . . . at least they look nice . . .

Our three boys, ages 2.5 to 5 were in various stages of learning ‘manners’.
Most importantly: saying ‘Please excuse me’ following a hiccup or sneeze.
Or anything involving the nearly constant passage of small amounts of gas.
Our success rate was . . . iffy.
Mostly, anything that resembled a bodily function was considered the most hilarious of occurrences and the cause for loud laughter and attempts at re-creation.
Sigh.
But we were nothing if not persistent.
Because it was important.
Finally, our efforts and tenacity yielded some rewards.
Small, I admit, but encouraging.
We were walking down the local mall.
Intent on finding . . . something important.
Our eldest son was just ahead of us, walking independently on his own.
Second son had a firm grip on my hand.
Third son was toddling along at his father’s side, his 2.5 year-old legs moving as fast as they could to keep up.
Suddenly, he stopped and stared up at his father.
“What’s the matter, son?”
His eyes went wide.
Then he sneezed.
Three times.
In quick succession.
He looked over at me and his little face lit up.
My heart stopped.
Was one of my sons actually going to prove to me that my time and efforts to instil manners had not gone entirely unnoticed?
“Ooo!” he said. “Three ‘scuse me’s!”
Well, we were part-way there.

16 comments:

  1. I learned that the hard way. If I didn't ask to be excused or was thought to be ignorant (which I often was) I got the brain-duster on top of the head. It made me concentrate very hard on learning manners.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, one of you has to tell us what the brain-duster is. That's all there is to it.

      I mean ... pleeeeaaaase? Nearly forgot that part :)

      Delete
    2. Ahem. Here is where we admit that our Dad would, on occasion, rap us on the top of the head with one knuckle. Just one knuckle. Just one rap. It was enormously effective. My brother often mentions eyes rolling around in his head and other special effects. But we ignore him . . .

      Delete
    3. Now that does sound like it would get a kid's attention! An errant kid, of course :)

      Delete
  2. Cute AND smart, I'd say - he could obviously count (to three at least) :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's the cutest thing I've read all week!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You tried, and you did well. :-)

    Pearl

    ReplyDelete

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