I feel that as parents, we have many roles that we play in the lives of our children...caregiver, provider, teacher and probably the most important role, being a good role model. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, probably due to the combination of knowing that we're going to be raising 2 sons and noticing the lack of common courtesy in every day encounters.
Brian and I always hold doors open for people; how many times have you been walking behind someone who just lets the door slam shut in your face?
Giving a simple please or thank you: to the cashier, to the bus driver, to anyone you come in contact with-is it that difficult to spit out one of those phrases?
Giving up your own comfort to someone else who needs it more. This is the main reason that I am thinking of all of these things this week---my bus routes have changed and I'm now stuck on an incredibly crowded bus. This morning, a gentleman was nice enough to give me his seat whenever he glanced up & saw my belly & noticed me holding on for dear life as the bus rumbled through stop & go traffic. He was the only person who did this; there were a number of other people who looked directly at my belly, then quickly averted their eyes elsewhere (both men and women). Do I want a seat because I'm lazy? no. I don't even want it because I'm tired or it's hard to stand or anything, I'm perfectly capable---but at this point in pregnancy, it's really a safety issue. I don't even want to think about what would happen if that bus comes to a sudden stop & everyone goes flying forward while standing.
And it's not just me being pregnant either---I've been on crowded buses before where there is an elderly person without a seat, or a woman who is trying to hold a tiny baby in one hand and hold onto a pole with her other hand to keep from falling. And all that I can think in all of these cases is, what would their mothers think? (the mothers of the people NOT getting up out of their seat, I mean). If we ever found out that our sons did something like that, we would be mortified.
That's my rant for the day...and all it does is give me more motivation to teach our sons to have respect and common courtesy for others.
1 comment:
Oh, I hear you. And even if Jake can't verbalize it yet for some reason, he's definitely getting it. I'm amazed at what M knows that I would consider basic manners. She chided someone the other day for not letting us cross in the crosswalk in front of GE! haha OK, so I need to work on *that*, but I'm glad she recongnizes when we tell her we have to stop for people in the crosswalk.
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