Manners | One of the Virtues in Building Good Character Through the Martial Arts

From please and thank you to opening doors and staying quiet in the library, manners refer to social graces we use to show others that their feelings matter. When we use kind words and actions, we help others feel comfortable.

Empathy is so critical to manners that etiquette expert, Amy Vanderbilt once said, “Good manners have much to do with the emotions. To make them ring true, one must feel them, not merely exhibit them.”

In other words, manners are not just about going through the motions– we need to imagine how others might feel and act accordingly.

This is not just about The Golden Rule– treating others how you would like to be treated–but also, treating others how they would like to be treated! People who use polite words and behave with others in mind tend to help them feel more comfortable and valued.

As we are aiming to cultivate leadership and character in our students, manners are a priority.

A longitudinal study that tracked Kindergarten students over 20 years found that showing strong social- emotional skills (manners, cooperation, helping) were great predictors of staying on track to high school graduation, a full-time job and out of the criminal justice system (American Journal of Public Health, 2015).

While some studies show that manners are waning in today’s world, a recent British study shows that parents still rate manners to be the most important life skills! What do you think?

We thank you for allowing us to partner with you on building children with powerful character. We look forward to working with you on instilling manners this month!

Here’s to your success!