A proper lesson in good manners

Five elementary school-age girls, all clad in dresses, filed into the Corbin Art Center classroom Saturday afternoon to learn about proper etiquette.

“Mind your manners,” Brandi York’s mom, Sonja, told the 6-year-old as she took her seat at the rectangular table. The blond, blue-eyed girl grinned, knowing her mom was joking.

Brandi was the youngest girl in the Manners Matter class offered by the city of Spokane Parks and Recreation Department. Saturday’s session was the first of two one-hour lessons. The class teaches manners including proper introduction and response, telephone etiquette, writing thank you notes and the importance of proper posture.

Brandi seemed to know her etiquette well. She raised her hand to answer nearly every question posed by teacher Ramona Patten.

“What do you do if you are at someone’s house and they serve food you don’t like?” Patten asked.

Brandi replied: “Say ‘No thank you’ or try it and see if you like it.”

Patten also had the girls write thank you notes. She explained that in these times of advanced technology a hand-written note is more personal.

“I hope they talk about not picking your nose in public,” said Sonja York, who stayed to listen in on the first part of the class.

Patten did. She handed out a flier later that showed nine pictures of impolite things to do in public.

In addition to picking your nose, it included wiping snot on your shirt sleeve, digging at your ears and not covering your mouth when you sneeze.

To teach posture, Patten used the old-fashioned method. She had each girl put a book on her head and walk around the tables.

Despite wearing flip-flops, 7-year-old Emily Peters made it all the way without dropping the book.

The mothers who brought their children said the class was good reinforcement for lessons already being taught at home.

“When she hears it from someone else, it gives it more validity,” mother Stacey Peters said of her daughter Emily.

“I think other people do a better job of explaining it.”

Peters noted that no boys were enrolled in the class.

“I think everyone should take the class,” Peters said. “It would eliminate a lot of the small struggles that kids have with each other.”

When the class turned to proper behavior in a museum, Patten advised, “Don’t push. Talk quietly, and sign the guest book.” Then she took the girls across the hall to a watercolor display where each picked their favorite painting.

When the class was over, Sonja York escorted Brandi outside. Trevor, her 3-year-old brother, was in tow.

Remembering that kids are kids, Sonja York let Brandi roll down the grassy hill with her brother.

“Look at her,” she said pointing to the grass stains on her daughter’s white tights. “Isn’t she beautiful?”