Healthy and Kind Life Lessons Missed

Some parents in the Orlando, Florida’s Edgewater school district are blowing a great opportunity to teach good manners and empathy.

The Golden rule is, treat other as you would like to be treated. One should try to put others first. Empathy, I believe is a taught skill, not a cognitive skill. Many of the parents in this school district are ignoring these two basic life skills and teaching their children the mantra “me first, me first, I do not care what you need, I want what I want.” This appears to me to be a good foundation for developing a bullying point of view in their children, how darn right selfish.

For those of you that have missed the story, a little girl with severe peanut allergies needs and requires a peanut free environment, and the school district had been requiring her classmates to rinse their mouths twice a day with water and to wash their hands and faces at school to avoid introducing nut residue into the classrooms. It is a life and death situation, not about hurt feelings. If it were your child, what would you want?

This child has the same rights as every child that has a disability. A child that needs a working dog; a child that needs wheelchair accessibility; a child that needs special education; a child that needs an interpreter. These are their rights because they belong to the community where it is law.

We as a society do alter our lives for others that require it because it is the right thing to do. We live in communities that should help and enrich all our lives not just the vocal unfeeling individuals.

Remember Hilary Clinton’s book, “It Takes a Village”? Why don’t these uncaring parents read it? Remember the old proverb, what go around, comes around? I wish no one, child or adult, harm and hardship but I do say have a kind heart.

Are these parents even thinking about the good that these simple requests will give their own children? It is healthy to wash your hand before and after eating; after using the powder room and several times during the day at random.

I would like to see every child be required to brush their teeth after lunch but since this will not happen in the schools around the country, learning to regularly rinse their mouth with water will add to their dental hygiene.

Both of these are healthy, personal habits to get into and will become lifelong habits that will serve them well. Moreover, empathy is a skill that will enrich their lives as they enter adulthood. To be able to teach two healthy physical habits and to teach some emotional growth seems like a winning combination to me.

See what happens when children do not know how to care for their teeth: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/163856/child_dies_for_lack_of_dental_care.html

Can you imagine the guilt these parents would carry around for the rest of their lives if this child died because they did not want their child to have rise their mouth and wash their hands; and when their children get older and realizes that they were part of this problem, they could be crippled emotionally for life. There is nothing as punishing as a guilty conscience.

This is one time that people must be marvelously well-mannered. It is not just a social issue but a life and death issue for a living, breathing human being who deserves the best that people can offer.

Let this community be the cream of the crop. Let it be marvelously kind and generous and they will all reap the reward of a clean conscience. They have the chance to make their community special and if they do not, no one else will.

It Was Over With One Bite ...

Recently, I was waiting for my sandwich at the deli downstairs from my office. As I was waiting I heard – then turned to see – a woman eating lunch at the counter with what looked to be her work colleague. It was a most unfortunate sight.

While she was attractive and well-dressed, her eating habits were nothing short of horrifying. I could hear her chomping on chips – over the noise of the deli and despite standing over 6 feet away. She chewed with her mouth open – not once did I see her lips close together. Granted, I may have missed it. I tried not to stare so my eyes were not on her the entire time. She took huge bites of her sandwich which she then stowed away in her cheek as she spoke. She looked like a squirrel with a gargantuan nut. Now I know the sandwiches at this deli are delicious, and I, too, am tempted to take big bites – but that is not the proper way to eat.

Poor table manners are bad enough. But she was eating with someone who looked like a work colleague. All I could think of was, “what must that colleague think of her?” What a shame.

It doesn’t matter how attractive you are or now well-dressed you are when you don’t have a solid foundation of proper dining etiquette; your professional, well-mannered deportment is over, sometimes with just one bite. You simply do not present well. To be marvelously well-mannered, remember to chew with your mouth closed, eat quietly, and while you are not supposed to talk with your mouth full, it is often hard to avoid talking with at least a bit of food in your mouth. When you do, take small bites of your food so you can talk without looking like a squirrel getting ready for winter.