When you stop to think of your daily language, you probably don’t think twice. Should you have healthy habits and use polite language, well then, you have nothing to worry about. However, if your children are younger (ours are adults) beware that they hear every word that comes out of your mouth! Please use polite words!
I can still remember the first time our son said sh*t, I about fell to the floor hearing this from a three-year-old! As a young mom I couldn’t imagine he heard this from me, but, no doubt he did. Naturally, in my opinion, we all take for granted that our children are listening to what we have to say, although at times it doesn’t feel like it, they are watching what we do and most likely want to be like us when they grow up. Therefore, it’s so important to be a role model for your own children and they will become a role model for others.

Tips on teaching manners from Manners Monkey and Characters of Character:
1. Be a role model
2. Be polite and use polite words at home, driving in the car and talking on the phone
3. Use polite words in conversations
4. Use polite actions and words in your home environment, at outdoor activities
5. Be polite wherever you go
6. Acknowledge your child’s good manners

While using polite words and displaying kind actions a child will internalize the feeling of good manners and they will become habit-forming for a lifetime. The more your child hears you using polite words, the more they will use polite words, too. The more your child witnesses your kind actions and manners, they will model the same.

​”The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.” 
​~Fred Astaire

Having good manners, good character, good values have been around forever. The platform has changed, but the concept will never. Our children need to be taught these important values and in this ever-changing world we’re living in, at times it becomes a challenge. Stop to breathe and remember that there is a child watching you, listening to you and wanting to be just like you. Please make good choices in your actions and in your words.

Out of all the character traits there are, this one hits home. While I waited in the car as my mom had gone into a gas station, I witnessed a young man walk in ahead of her and not even hold the door open. I thought I would get out and slap him! Having good manners also encompasses showing respect, having good behavior and you attract persons of the same demeanor. As a mom, I always liked when our children brought home polite, respectful and kind friends to our home. Their actions were pure and their language was worth listening to!
Teaching children vital core values shapes them into their own character and helps them to gain a deeper awareness to develop these positive character traits.

Make a Paper Bag Puppet of  Manners Monkey by watching this Video.

Manners Monkey Bulletin Board and Resource Book on Amazon
Manners Monkey Resource Book available on Amazon
Let's Have Manners is available on Amazon

                                Making a Difference One Child at a Time
Characters of Character has a mission, "To provide a firm foundation for children to establish strong civic values" We try to think outside the box in order to reach as many children, families and communities as possible to share the important character messages. These characters earned a National Promising Practice Award and we have not looked back! Offering over 30 published books, characters in costumes for classroom and community visits. We even brought a few characters to children in the hospital last year which prompted us to focus on donating more of our Superhero Activity Boxes to children in the hospital. While society is shut down for awhile, we began making character building videos for the families and children to engage in our character lessons through art and discussions. WE also encourage children and families to write letters to the characters building up literacy and communication skills. Our ideas are endless as we work tirelessly to get the messages into the hearts and hands of families and communities. Your support matters. There is no paid staff here at Characters of Character, everything we do is from our volunteers, our time and our passion to make the world better. YOU can donate to our Fundraiser which is building self-esteem and confidence in our children, OR, YOU can support or become a sponsor for our Superhero Activity Box donations to children in the hospital. We hope you find the value in our work, our mission and the children we empower. Here are a few other ways you can support our work. Thank you.

'I AM" Affirmation Activity Book
comes with an "I AM" badge and a hand written letter from Self-Esteem Elephant to encourage self-esteem and confidence. Learn more here and consider a donation.. Thank you.

Our youtube channel is here.

This Superhero Activity Book Comes in a fun, sturdy box along with crayons, watercolors, paint brush, easel to display art work on easel, easel, sticker, color poster and a hand written letter from one of the Characters of Character. Super activities to bring joy to the girls and boys in the hospital. Please donate.

Every year #GivingTuesday happens, mobilizing the world through giving. #GivingTuesday has the power to unite and heal communities in good times and in bad. A global threat like COVID-19 touches every person on the planet, and it presents an opportunity to come together as a global community. #GivingTuesday Now is a new global day of giving and unity that will take place on May 5, 2020 – in addition to the regularly scheduled Dec 1, 2020 date.

Characters of Character hopes you'll donate to their organization whose mission is to provide a firm foundation for children to establish strong civic values. We ARE making a difference, one child at a time. Our current 2020 Project is to donate to children's hospitals. You can also support us on our Amazon Wishlist.

This year is a challenge due to the Covid-19 Pandemic which effected every single person. As a small nonprofit organization, Characters of Character wanted to do their part and therefore created a variety of character building activities for children to do while at home with their families. Visit us at Character Corner and make some memories with your children and engage in some of our character building lessons. Be sure to share your pictures with us, too! We'd love to hear from you. Like the rest of the world, all events were cancelled, we are no different. All of our Park District Classes, our Girl Scout event, our History Museum with Manners Monkey event and others were also cancelled. So, how do we get these important messages out to the children? We made videos! We're writing articles for magazines and we're inviting children to write o their favorite character. This builds their communication skills, their vocabulary and engages them in thinking about and learning about what good character really is. We hope you'll introduce our Characters of Character to your children, grandchildren and community through our videos, becoming Pen-Pals, our books or just discussions on what it means to have good character. You're building the future with your children and Characters of Character is here to help. Please provide a S.A.S.E. for a return letter from your child's favorite character, thank you.

Our Character Self-Esteem Elephant is also sharing a great character building activity for your children! For a $15.00 donation you'll receive the 'I AM' Affirmation activity book, an I AM Affirmation badge and a personalized letter from Self-Esteem Elephant! Learn more here!
The book is available on Amazon, however, it does NOT come with the badge or hand written letter.

Characters of Character hopes you'll do what you can with what you've got to help make the world a better place. Learn more about how you can support our organization here.

Please remember that you are a role model to a child. They are listening to what you say, watching what you do and wanting to grow up just like you one day. Please make good choices and stay safe.

                                                   Make New Friends and Keep the Old
Make new friends, but, keep the old, one is silver and the other gold. I learned this song while a young girl in scouts. We sang it all the time, and fifty years later it still resonates!  Girl Scouts is one of the safe places that I found lasting friendships.
How is it that your children make friends? Usually at school, sports or other team activities are where our youth make friends and build friendships, some may last a lifetime, and others for a chapter in life. None the less, friends are important to have.
It’s important to talk to your children about the characteristics that make a good friend. It’s natural that we want the best for our children and helping them to make good choices. This is true when making friends. When our children were younger, I made it a point to emphasize that if they were with a friend who was making the wrong choices, they would probably be in the same situation and be in trouble. Try to talk with your children and let them know what a good friend does, what a good friend talks about and makes you feel.
Tips on Teaching Friendship from Friendship Frog and Characters of Character:

1. Always be a role model for your children
2. Focus on the positive characteristics that make a good friend
3. Allow them to feel the consequences of making poor choices in a friendship
4. Share with them the expectations of a good friend
5. That friends are honest with one another
6. That friends help each other
7. That friends cheer you up when you’re sad
8. That friends are someone you can count on
9. That friends include others in conversations
10. That friends are always there for each other

 
It’s just as important to show your children what it is you expect from them, for example, role play, be a bad friend and let them learn how it feels to be treated unkind or with no respect. Allow them to feel the hurt for two reasons, first, they won’t want to feel that way again and hopefully make good choices in who they choose as their friends, and second, they won’t want to make somebody else feel that way. While I was teaching, I did this often with two children who were not behaving appropriately, or bullying, or being disrespectful to one another. Even the youngest of children would understand this lesson.
Teaching our children these vital core values shapes them into their own character and helps them to gain a deeper awareness to develop these positive character traits. 
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