A Reflection on Manners
I grew up in Southern California and when I was in 7th grade my mother insisted that I attend “Cotillion” class at our country club. She bought me a beautiful light blue dress, white tights, navy blue Capezio Mary Janes, and here is the best part- two pairs of white gloves! My mother regaled me with stories of her Cotillion and debut experience. She claimed to have worn out three pairs of long gloves in her receiving line. I, of course, had never worn gloves.
The class was designed to teach us how to ballroom dance and all the etiquette that is associated with an invitation to a formal dance. After the nervous anticipation of who was going to ask me to dance, I most vividly remember learning the rules for removing gloves when partaking of punch and cookies. The gloves needed to be carefully removed one finger at a time and then held firmly by all the fingers so that the glove would not look like a “bouquet of flowers flapping in the breeze”. My friends and I all thought that the glove lessons were hysterical-none of us could imagine wearing gloves to a dance. We would much rather hit the boys with them!
What does this have to do with anything? I wonder, are girls still taught how to politely remove gloves? Why or why not? Are such manners now outdated? If so, how did that happen? Will there come a time when no one says, “please” or “thank you”? As we read King Arthur and examine the age of chivalry is there a part of you that would like to see a return to the age of chivalry? Furthermore, as you look forward, what manners are you going to pass on to your children?
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October 11th, 2007 at 9:19 am
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October 11th, 2007 at 9:23 am
[...] A Reflection on Manners [...]
October 11th, 2007 at 9:27 am
[...] A Reflection on Manners [...]
October 11th, 2007 at 9:28 am
[...] A Reflection on Manners [...]
October 11th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
[...] classes, which I took in seventh grade. Mrs. Emerson even took a class about manners, click here to find more information! Manners are something that happen to be imperative in every day life. No [...]
October 14th, 2007 at 11:13 am
[...] answer the question from Mrs. Emerson’s Blog. The manners I would pass down to my kids, would be to say “please” and “thank [...]
October 14th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
great work mrs. emerson
October 15th, 2007 at 5:00 am
i believe that girls today still have manners but they do not show them as much. This behavior would be considered outdated at this time as is chivalry.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
i believe that girls are not taught to remove gloves the proper way because
we act differently than girls did 20 years ago. We think that doing this would be a waste of our time and we would never use it. We may not notice it but manners are outdates at this time period. We sometimes forget our manners and before this time period children never forgot to use there manners. There is a part of me that would like to bring back chivalry but also i think that there are way to many rules in chivalry that we would all live a stressful uptight life. The manners that i am going to teach on to my children are of course the most common ones as in please and thank you. also i am going to teach my children to always say yes sir or mame or no sir or mame. my children will be taught always be respectful of adults and other people and to always open the doors for people.
October 15th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
I wonder, are s still taught how to politely remove gloves? Why or why not? Are such manners now outdated? If so, how did that happen? Will there come a time when no one says, “please” or “thank you”? As we read King Arthur and examine the age of chivalry is there a part of you that would like to see a return to the age of chivalry? Furthermore, as you look forward, what manners are you going to pass on to your children?
No, s are not still taught how to politrly wear and use gloves. Why not? This is no longer taught because it that kind of information is no longer of any use to us s. Before, the polite way to remove gloves was taught to young s and teens because when they were invited to a formal dance, these kind of manners were important. But, today’s definition of the word formal has changed. Now a days, when an invitation says “formal” there is no obligation, or even thought, of wearing gloves, not even for older women. These rules are no longer taught ecause they are simply out dated. There is no use for those kinds of manners, the only “real” manners still taught are table manners because this is used in daily life.
To answer the question, “Will there come a time when no one says, ‘please’ or ‘thank you’? ” I do not think so. The fundamentals of manners will never be forgotten, but many of the “minor” manners will not be taught to tomorrows generation. Of course, this is just my opinion. Some of the “minor” manners that have been dropped since King Arthur’s time include manners like “Thou shlat not ” and “Thou shalt not lie”. These are written rules that have long scince been forgotten to verbally teach. This is because these are rules I like to call unwritten rules. They are “unwritten rules” because they are rules everyone is expected to follow, but are never written down or taught.
The manner I will pass down to my chil;dren will be many. I will start with actually teaching the unwritten rules. Then as they grow older and more mature I wil focus more on the specific rules. I hope that these do not go away. I wil inforce them with my children and hope they will do the same with their children.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
[...] Mrs. Emerson’s Blog she talks about an example in her life that has to do with manners she was taught as a kid. She [...]
October 15th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
[...] Mrs. Emerson’s Blog she talks about an example in her life that has to do with manners she was taught as a kid. She [...]
December 12th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I think that the manners were taught so girls would become women and boys could become men. This really helps children learn how to behave on specific occasions. If they act more appropriately in certain situations they will become more responsible for their actions. Manners classes also help with discipline. When I was younger i would take manner classes because my parents wanted me to learn how to act a dinning room table. They also helped me with special occasions; for example when we had guest over. The manners I will teach my kids are to always say yes and no ma’am, hold the door for others, never be rude to and elderly, and always say please and thank you. I think these are really important for kids to learn so they will not be rude.