Southern hospitality is one of those things just about every American has heard of and many have experienced firsthand. Southerners like to
make people feel welcomed even if all it takes is a smile or a “hello”.
Though I’ve only ever lived in the South, I’m sure there are nice people all across the country but it’s more expected once you get below the Mason-Dixon Line.
And I’m not sure if the Southern hospitality thing is really so much “hospitality” as it is just plain old good manners. Who doesn’t want to have good manners?
I can remember back to when I was 13 or 14 and I had major surgery to remove an ovarian tumor – a long story for a different day. According to the nurses, as I was coming out of anesthesia, I was telling everyone “Thank you” and “No, sir” and “please”. That polite stuff was so ingrained in me I was saying it while I wasn’t even completely conscious. What had my mom done to me?
What’s funny is now I’m doing it to my own kids.
My three year old must say “please” to get what she wants. Once she gets whatever it was, she has to say “thank you.” She still has issues with interrupting conversations, but, you know, I’m 28 and I still have issues with interrupting conversations.
My 18 month old knows “Yes, ma’am”, “please”, “thank you”, “no, thank you” and a couple of other polite words and I don’t think that’s weird. I think that’s normal.
In the South – and I’m sure other areas of the country – your children are a direct reflection upon you, your family and your parenting abilities. I don’t want anyone to meet my kids and then the kids behave like heathens and the people assume I don’t know how to raise my kids.
Is this just a Southern thing? Are kids from other parts of the country expected to say “please” and “thank you”? Do you expect your kid to say those words?
*This was originally posted on Deep South Moms but it’s closing and we were all told to grab our posts if we wanted to…so I did.*
Image/Flickr
