Teach your children to be polite

I ask my four-year-old for what seems like the hundredth time: ‘What’s the magic word?’. Shouldn’t she just know at this stage to say ‘please’ without prompting, I wonder.

Children learn by repetition — reminding them of what’s polite is important, says Joanna Fortune, clinical psychotherapist and director of Solamh Parent-Child Relationship Clinic.

She sees good manners as learned behaviour and parents’ job is to help children learn.