How Much Politeness Do You Get/expect from a Toddler?

Updated on October 17, 2011
S.S. asks from Osgood, IN
15 answers

My son turned 2 in august. I think he is pretty polite for his age. He says thanks everytime we give him something (juice, milk, ect) and says sorry if he runs into someone by accident (to cute!) We are trying to get him to use the word please, but he says
'sure" instead (not sure why lol) how old were your kids when they started saying please and thank you?

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M.L.

answers from Houston on

I expect it young, they will learn through lots of gentle reminders :) Mine were late talkers, so saying it when they were about 2 1/2.

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K.U.

answers from Detroit on

My daughter at 2 started saying them but she is now 4 and sometimes I still have to remind her.

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A.L.

answers from Chicago on

My 18 month old says please, thank you, and sorry. I have always been big on manners, so when teaching her how to talk we just made sure to use these words.

For example when she was learning to say up, every time I picked her up I would say Up Please, she started saying it too. Same goes for Sorry, when she would hit I would say we don't hit, that hurts, say your sorry. She doesn't always get this one, if she bumps her head she will look at me and say sorry. That one is a work in progress. She does say Thank you all the time now. It took us a few weeks of making sure to say it with her, but she picked it up fast.

Now my 8 year old has good and bad days. I have to remind her sometimes, but I also remind my husband. I think that is one of the things that annoys him, but it is just habit for me to remind them to say it.

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B.

answers from Augusta on

I dunno about mine but my friend has a toddler she just turned two and she says thank you and your welcome.
your little one likely says "sure" because that's the response you give when someone say's please.
ex
"please mom" " sure, hun"

C.P.

answers from Columbia on

It sounds like you are doing GREAT!

The best way to get your child to say please and thank you is to model the behavior. And when you want him to say it, it's okay to prompt him...but try to get him saying it based on what he sees you doing instead of the prompt.

For some reason it always irritates me to hear a parent say to their 5 or 6 year old "What do you sayyy?" By that age, prompts should not be needed.

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C.P.

answers from Albuquerque on

My girl is almost 3 and she's usually pretty polite. She started repeating the nice words (please, thank you, you're welcome, sorry) when she first started talking. But, I do still have to remind her to say them sometimes--"Are you going to ask me nice?" Or if she's demanding something, I just ignore her or say "oh, okay, well, I want a million dollars." :) Good luck, I think there aren't enough parents teaching their kids these basic manners!

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L.G.

answers from Detroit on

he is not too young, just work at it. if i were you, though, while you're at it, strive for "may i have more juice please". i think we work too much for the "please" and forget the polite request. i am constantly reminding my daughter and nephews to do this rather than "more juice please", which to me, even with the please sounds like a demand. i also can't stand "i'm thirsty" or "i want some juice". again, a statement, not a polite request.

K.G.

answers from Boca Raton on

My son just turned 5 last week, and to me manners are so important... I still have to remind him on a daily basis because sometimes he'll forget. For the most part he's been using his manners (on his own) since he was 3ish..

L.A.

answers from Austin on

Early like yours. Every transaction in our home and her day care was with a please, thank you, no thank you excuse me, may I?

It just becomes natural to them.

T.S.

answers from San Francisco on

I can't remember (?) but just keep modeling it for him (please give mommy the towel, etc.) and he will follow suit. They are like little parrots, they repeat what they hear :)

L._.

answers from San Diego on

It really depends on each child. My grandson is amazingly polite when he's in a good mood and horribly rude when he's in a bad mood. He just turned 2 in August. He says he's sorry when he dirties his pants. I don't know why he does that either because we don't shame him. He says he's sorry when he hurts himself. That's probably because we say we are sorry when we comfort him. He says please and thank you and excuse me.

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D.M.

answers from Denver on

Just keep reminding him, and not giving him something until he says please... in a fun way... he'll do it. Enjoy : )

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E.S.

answers from New York on

My 19th month old says thank you all the time. It's been her "in" word for the past few months. We're working on please and you're welcome. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition.

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E.L.

answers from Detroit on

he is not to young. I have a 2yr old son and he says please. But we have worked on it, and he now uses it regularly. Just work on it and it will come. It sounds like he is very polite already.

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R..

answers from Chattanooga on

My DD is 17 months... while she still has a limited vocabulary, I have to remind her, but I DO ask her to say please and thank you. (more like 'PEE!' and 'DANTA'... but I know what it means.)

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