ESCOUTZ.COM

If teaching manners has not worked at home, the Boy Scouts is a good place to turn for help.

Parents may try their best to teach their children but sometimes an outsider or an organization is more helpful or can do a better job getting the message across.

To get rank when they join the Boy Scouts boys must pass a series of tests. This is not a contest or a race to see who can get the highest rank. The Boy Scouts teach that each step encourages a boy to do his best.

Using proper protocol as a way of maintaining order and showing respect for those who have achieved more than others is the scout way. However, the scouts also teach boys to respect each other and be kind and polite to those who have achieved less.

Manners is more than following a rote pattern of behavior. It is behavior instilled in each of us as a decent way to treat all people and creatures.

Seeing their peers using proper manners and showing respect for authority and one another is something that is hard to carry out at home. This is especially hard in homes with only one parent or one child.

The Boy Scouts have a system that has worked for around one hundred years. Presidents of companies and Presidents of the United States have been Boy Scouts. The scout law and scout method of teaching are direct and indirect ways of teaching boys manners.

By the time a boy has reached the rank of “tenderfoot”, which is the first rank they may get, they will already be practicing good behavior and using manners.

The twelve points of the scout law all revolve around good manners. They cover everything from being trustworthy to reverent with courtesy in the middle.

The Boy Scout slogan, “do a good turn daily, ” is one that would work for all of us.