Family

Fed-up Kiwi mum opens manners school

Churlish children could be set to get a manners makeover.
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Auckland mum Jodi Tempero wants to put paid to bad manners has taken matters one step further, opening up a school that will teach the lost art of social etiquette.

Mr and Mrs Manners plans to open its doors for classes in April this year and will teach everything from table setting to washing and stacking the dishwasher and laundry through to proper communication skills and personal grooming.

There will also be lessons in respecting peers, teachers, parents and the elderly.

Tempero told NZME seeing her daughter’s own bad manners in action, especially at the dinner table where she’d seen her put her feet on the table as well as chew with her mouth open, was the tipping point.

“Kids these days have become very self-absorbed,” Tempero said. “My daughter was the number one reason that I started the school. We need to be putting more time into our manners.”

While the cost for the courses yet to be decided, Tempero said she’d been overrun with interest from parents – some with children as young as one – looking to give their offspring a manners makeover.

Classes will be held for those aged seven through to 20, with courses tailored to specifically suit the age group. Graduating students will get the chance to show off their new found social skills at a swanky Auckland restaurant.

Tempero is quick to point out she’s had moments where her manners have slipped but said she’s passionate about reviving these seemingly lost social skills.

She also said social media was having a negative impact on children’s communication skills.

“Children don’t talk to one another anymore unless it’s through Instagram or texting. It’s incredibly sad.”

As well as giving kids grounding in good manners, dating classes will also be part of the course.

“Whether you like it or not, people do judge on manners. I know a guy who stopped dating a woman because her manners were appalling.”

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I can spend hours talking on the phone to my friends but I often make the most of that time by also washing dishes, hanging out washing, etc. once I even made scones while the phone was perched between my ear and my shoulder, resulting in a rather sore neck. But sometimes it’s only polite […]