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Manners and morals resources?


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I'm looking for some general resources for manners and values/morals.  I don't think I want a whole curriculum unless it's super awesome and fun.  :)  I'm hoping to help DS with some behaviors.  I tend to repeat myself often and I don't think that method is working.  Do you have great picture or other books to recommend, or resources like apps or games or even shows?  I'm having trouble finding even books to read to DS, and my library is not awesome for these resources.  I think I'm not looking for the right thing.  DS likes Veggie tales but he's watched them all on Netflix and they either didn't address what I need or didn't get the point across. 

 

DS is 7.5 and I am hoping to help improve: whining/complaining, wants vs needs (gratefulness?), and interrupting.

Edited by displace
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We use ValueTales here, along with Mrs. PiggleWiggle and some of the Berenstain Bear books.  What has helped the most, though, is creating posters of things to do instead - secret signals for interrupting, taking a deep breath and focusing on problem solving (whining) - or describing what the action means: how to be patient, how to be polite, how to be responsive..

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I'm looking for some general resources for manners and values/morals.  I don't think I want a whole curriculum unless it's super awesome and fun.  :)  I'm hoping to help DS with some behaviors.  I tend to very often repeat myself and I don't think that method is working.  Do you have great picture or other books to recommend, or resources like apps or games or even shows?  I'm having trouble finding even books to read to DS, and my library is not awesome for these resources.  I think I'm not looking for the right thing.  DS likes Veggie tales but he's watched them all on Netflix and they either didn't address what I need or didn't get the point across. 

 

DS is 7.5 and I am hoping to help improve: whining/complaining, wants vs needs (gratefulness?), and interrupting.

 

Manners and morals are two different things. :-)

 

Miss Manners says it takes 18 years of constant nagging to rear a well-mannered adult. Although your ds might enjoy Veggie Tales or whatever, they cannot replace your continuous instruction and correction and modeling. Perhaps you are missing one of those: instruction, correction, modeling. Or it could just be that he's just a little kid and he is behaving the way kids are, and so you need to just continue your instruction and correction and modeling.

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This book is very good (and secular):

 

http://www.amazon.com/Family-Virtues-Guide-Children-Ourselves/dp/0452278104/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1456078041&sr=8-4&keywords=virtues

 

This website is a companion to the book.

 

Focus on the Family has a Christian program about virtues that is available free online that might work for you.  http://www.kidsofintegrity.com/

 

Simply Charlotte Mason also has a great resource - Laying Down the Rails.  This is also Christian.

 

In general, choosing one good character trait, focusing on it, and using it as a positive example we strive towards is a good approach.

 

ETA:  For manners, we have gone through books like this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/365-Manners-Kids-Should-Know/dp/0307888258/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456078278&sr=8-1&keywords=365+manners

 

It was a short, easy way to address various issues that come up regarding manners (and out of the situation it is handy to not have to be nagging, but to instead have a framework of expectations that has been discussed beforehand - but you still do have to remind kids).  I am sure it would benefit us to go through it again to be reminded. :)

Edited by Incognito
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Julia Cook writes excellent behaviour/manners picture books.

 

Also, ds loves a book called "If Everybody Did". It shows what would happen if people did whatever they wanted instead of following rules or the expectations in our society.

 

For values, we have a book called ValueTales Treasury that discusses certain values (determination, honesty, helping, believing in yourself, humour). We also have a series by Brad Meltzer called Ordinary People Change the World. They are biographies that focus on specific character traits that helped make ordinary people into heroes. So far there are biographies on Amelia Earheart, Albert Einstein, Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, Lucille Ball, Abraham Lincoln, Hellen Keller, and Martin Luther King Jr. They are engaging as they contain cute comic-style drawings along with photographs.

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Laying down the rails set from Simply Charlotte Mason.   (Plus, lots and lots of exhausting hours of teaching, correcting and lovingly reminding your kids.....over and over and over and over again...... until they finally get it at which point they move out of the house.)  

 

I think the last part is probably the most effective way to teach this.   

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Julia Cook writes excellent behaviour/manners picture books.

 

Also, ds loves a book called "If Everybody Did". It shows what would happen if people did whatever they wanted instead of following rules or the expectations in our society.

 

For values, we have a book called ValueTales Treasury that discusses certain values (determination, honesty, helping, believing in yourself, humour). We also have a series by Brad Meltzer called Ordinary People Change the World. They are biographies that focus on specific character traits that helped make ordinary people into heroes. So far there are biographies on Amelia Earheart, Albert Einstein, Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, Lucille Ball, Abraham Lincoln, Hellen Keller, and Martin Luther King Jr. They are engaging as they contain cute comic-style drawings along with photographs.

 

Oh, my goodness, I think we've checked that one out of the library several times! My ds loves it too. :) It's great - it's a little boy being chastised for things and "what if everyone did that?" leading to a picture imagining what would happen.

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Not a resource, but we found a solution to interrupting that works like magic in our family. When DD was in Montessori preschool, she learned that if she had a question or needed help, she was to quietly walk up to the teacher and lightly place her hand on teacher's shoulder then wait until teacher acknowledged her to speak. It worked so well the rest of the family adopted the practice. Even DH and I use it now. Key is to consistently require it and offer the kid the same courtesy when you want to address them when they're busy.

 

I wish I had an easy solution for the other concerns. Oldest is 17 and DEFINITELY doesn't know the difference between needs & wants! In fact, her grasp of this concept seems to get worse as she ages. I'm all ears...

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I was glad to find at least some of these resources at my library for books, and I got a couple used off Amazon.  I know DS likes stories and applies them when it's at the forefront.  Just yesterday we read, "Have you filled a bucket today?", and then he went around being so sweet.  Focusing on character and manners is helpful for me too.  :001_smile:

Edited by displace
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