Raising Likable Kids: Tips and Tricks to Avoid Raising a Future Kanye West

There are a lot of people, parents and non-parents alike, who have issues with being around other people’s children. And, at times, they have good reason. Badly behaving children can often grow into disrespectful and rude adults, but we parents can work to change poor behavior before they’re off into the world pissing off one person or another. In a world filled with Joe Wilsons, Kanye Wests, and Serena Williams, us parents need to reign in the disrespectful and ill-mannered pint-sized versions…before it’s too late.

Children are born with a certain temperament and personality, but none of them are born with good manners, an education on how to respect others, or civilized social skills. Those are the things that parents must teach them. Many parents will succeed while just as many others will fail miserably. Poorly behaved children can easily make things miserable for everyone else. How many of us have been steamed by a screaming child in a restaurant or seen arm-flailing temper tantrums in the middle of a store…or worse? I will not blame a child for their lack of manners. I don’t get angry at the child running around a restaurant or the child who shoves my child while the mother just watches. It’s not their fault that they don’t know how to behave.  Obviously, I blame the parents. Please note that I am not referring to children that have serious developmental and/or behavioral problems. I am talking about an average child that does not know how to behave appropriately. (continues…)