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For Release: August 1, 2002
Contact: Elizabeth Upham Howell
802/860-1814
elizabeth@emilypost.com
The Gift of Good
Manners:
A Parent's Guide to Raising Respectful, Kind, Considerate
Children
By Peggy Post & Cindy Post Senning, Ed.D.
Burlington, VT—A new survey
by Public Agenda-a non-partisan public policy research group-found
84 percent of survey participants believe a major cause of disrespect
in American society today is too many parents failing to teach
respect to children. However, 60 percent also agreed that even
when parents try to “raise their kids right,” there
are too many negative role models in society that teach kids to
be disrespectful. While complaints are plentiful, solutions seem
scarce in the 60-page summary of findings on rudeness in America.
Can respect be taught? Are parents failing
to teach manners to children? Can a 14-year-old boy be convinced
that table manners matter? How can you help a child withstand
teasing and bullying without becoming resentful? What to do when
another parent's or teacher's rules vary greatly from your own?
Was it easier to teach manners to children forty years ago?
Answers and solutions are found in the new
book, “THE GIFT OF GOOD MANNERS: A Parent's Guide to Raising
Respectful, Kind, Considerate Children,” (HarperResource;
August, 2002; $24.95) by Peggy Post and Cindy Post Senning, Ed.D.
The Posts-the third generation family members of Emily Post-argue
that manners are unquestionably essential for every child's lifelong
success and self confidence.
According to Peggy Post, who writes a monthly
manners column in Parents and Good Housekeeping magazines, "Manners
education is inseparable from the other things a parent or primary
caregiver must do to raise a responsible, self-sufficient child.
It's not a kind of add-on that be attended to after the schoolwork
and the soccer, ballet and piano lessons are done. Instead, teaching
and modeling good manners are integral to daily family life."
The book is organized around three key principles:
1) it is best to model and teach manners virtually from birth
to adolescence; 2) manners education is most effective when geared
to a child's normal development; and 3) Mannerly behavior gives
both children and adults the self confidence to navigate daily
life.
The book is divided into six sections, based
on age, from birth through the high school years. In each chapter,
manners and teaching methods are geared to children's particular
capabilities during those years. Each section of “THE
GIFT OF GOOD MANNERS” is divided into five chapters that
deal with core manners topics including:
According to Cindy Post Senning, the book's
approach is positive: "Rather than talking about problems
that need to be fixed, we help parents teach kids to develop the
right instincts and behaviors from the start. We believe kids-even
teenagers-can and want to be respectful, kind and considerate."
“THE GIFT OF GOOD MANNERS”
focuses on understanding and modeling the principles and values
that are the foundation of manners, and then shows parents ways
to help their children take on these values and make them their
own. The Posts also weigh in on topics such as children with special
needs, the over-programmed child, etiquette for the new American
family, overcoming obstacles in parent-to-parent relationships,
dealing with problems at school and helping your teenager through
the college application process. These sections, called "For
Every Age" are found at the end of each section.
Peggy Post is the author of ten etiquette
books and a monthly manners column in Parents and Good Housekeeping
magazines. Her sister-in-law Cindy Post Senning holds a doctorate
in education and is a former elementary school principal, teacher
and registered nurse. “THE GIFT OF GOOD MANNERS”
combines 80 years of Post family experience in etiquette and is
the third Post text on the importance of teaching manners to children.
Emily Post wrote "Children are People" in 1940 and Elizabeth
Post wrote "Please, Say Please" in 1972.
* * *
About the Authors
Peggy Post is the author of ten etiquette books, including "Emily
Post's Etiquette" and "The Etiquette Advantage in Business."
She writes monthly columns in Parents and Good Housekeeping magazines
and is the etiquette expert at WeddingChannel.com, the Internet's
most popular wedding resources for engaged couples. Peggy also
contributes weekly etiquette quizzes to ivillage.com. Peggy conducts
hundreds of media interviews annually and has appeared on programs
including The Today Show, Live with Regis & Kelly, Oprah!,
The View and Good Morning America.
Cindy Post Senning holds a doctorate in education and is a former elementary school principal, teacher and registered nurse. She is also director of The Emily Post Institute. She has spent years in the classroom, as a teacher, school nurse and health educator, reaching children in grades K-12. She developed and directed the Maternal Child Health Program for Vermont Home Health & Hospice and has taught childbirth classes as well expectant parents classes for more than seven years. Currently, Cindy is a consultant with the Vermont chapter of the Foundation for Excellent Schools, which teams with local schools to improve programs for all students. Cindy is also a professor at Berne University-an online graduate college for students seeking masters or doctorates in business, education and social services.
THE GIFT OF GOOD MANNERS
A Parent's Guide to Raising Respectful, Kind, Considerate Children
Peggy Post & Cindy Post Senning, Ed.D.
HarperResource
Publication month: August 2002
ISBN: 0-06-018549-X; $24.95/$37.95 (Canada); 480 pages
