Dear Queenie,
I would like to comment on your column about rude children. I would like for the writer to know that not all teenagers are rude. My children’s friends have always been very polite to me and my husband, always saying “hello,” “please” and “thank you.”
One time my daughter refused to go somewhere with me, saying that I can be rude sometimes and that embarrasses her very much. I absolutely did not know that I was rude sometimes. I thought I was just a blunt and forward person. Nothing wrong with that, I thought.
I was very wrong. Not only did my daughter think I was rude, but her boyfriend (they both were 20 years old) thought the same thing.
So you see, Queenie, adults can be very rude and impolite too, knowingly or unknowingly. That may and most of the time does reflect on our children too. Thank you.—Ex-rude mother
Dear Ex-rude mother,
Of course not all teenagers are rude and/or thoughtless. And of course some adults can be very rude too.
To a great extent it depends on their parents; not only on how they tell their children to behave, but on the example they set for them.
And, as any good teacher will tell you, very often adults can learn from children, if they will take the trouble to listen to them.
