Manners and kids have always been uneasy bedfellows, and the older one gets the more it seems as if manners in children have gone the way of the pet rock. Two new video series which draw from the basic gospels of Vanderbilt, Post, and Miss Manners, aim to put kids on the etiquettely correct track when it comes to social manners, phone manners, and table manners. The best of the lot is How Do You Do Your How Do You Do's?, the first in a 3-tape series (the other two titles are What Do You Tell a Phone? and Slurps, Burps, and Spills!), which combines clever writing and winning visual effects with solid tips for introductions, lady and gentleman manners, and door, chair, and coat etiquette. Kid hosts' Jennifer and Joel, and a group of young helpers, do an excellent job of emphasizing one of the real benefits of proper etiquette: being polite and courteous to others makes us feel better about ourselves. An excellent series. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Ages 6-12Phone Manners and Table Manners, presented by Bette Hall and her daughters, aged 3 and 5, share a similar format in which Hall talks to her older daughter with occasional breakaways for brief skits. Phone Manners teaches young viewers how to politely answer the phone, warns against telling a stranger that one is home alone, stresses the importance of taking messages, and explains 911 emergency services. Table Manners covers arriving at the table clean and on time, waiting for the host to begin the meal, the basics of passing and serving, and the principles of good table conversation (don't talk with food in one's mouth, don't interrupt, don't say that a particular dish is "yuk.") While the information in the video is good, the presentation is more in lecture-mode than demonstration-mode, and is therefore less likely to connect with the intended audience of children aged 3-6. Purchased together, the tapes cost $25. An optional purchase. (R. Pitman)
How Do You Do Your How Do You Do's?; Phone Manners; Table Manners
(1994) 20 min. $14.95. SwensonGreen Productions. Color cover. Vol. 10, Issue 1
How Do You Do Your How Do You Do's?; Phone Manners; Table Manners
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