I remember my first day of college. My roommate and I were standing in our new dorm room, hanging clothes in the closets, stocking the mini-fridge with soda and salsa. People were coming in and out all day, introducing themselves. And with the very first introduction, a girl came into our room, greeted us, and held out her hand to shake my new roommate’s hand. And my roommate? Put out a little sneer and withheld her hand, making it extremely awkward, I’m sure, for the other girl. I was mortified. I recall quickly reaching out, grabbing her hand firmly and shaking it, while introducing myself. I asked my roommate later in the day why she’d done that, and she mumbled something about thinking it was weird, ‘kids’ shaking hands. Weird? How about rude? Of her?

Pea has good manners. Well, pretty good manners. For a three-year old. My husband and I have worked hard at that. Not by any offensive means, either, rather from example. We always say “please” and “thank you” and “may I…” We say it to each other, but we also say it to the girls. A lot. And we’ve gotten to the point where Pea will say “may I be excused?” when she’s had enough of a meal at the dining room table. And if you thank her for something, she’ll say, “I welcome you.”

There are so many books out there, geared towards kids, about manners. It’s hard to know where to begin. And then, I realized we don’t actually have to start at the very beginning, because we have a pretty solid foundation of manners. So I skipped over the basics and went right for, “Manners Can Be Fun.” It was written by Munro Leaf, who also authored “The Story of Ferdinand,” one of my all-time favorite children’s books.

There are several in this series, including one on speaking politely and another on how to behave. They are cute books, I adore the simple line illustrations. The material is timeless. These books just have a really old-fashioned feel. Of a time that’s long gone by…

We read it periodically. Pea is far more into “Fancy Nancy” right now then she is into books about good manners. And that’s fine. But a couple of days ago, Coco came into the kitchen, opened the cabinet under the sink where we keep the trash bin, and tossed her empty juice box in there. I replied, “thank you, Coco.” And she said, “thank you” right back.

Not bad for an 18-month old…