Courtesy is home-brew (Htet Zaw Htoo)

Courtesy is home-brew     

Theodore Roosevelt said, "Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage". Sophie Turner also said, "Courtesy is a lady's armor". As they said, courtesy is very important like courage for a man and dress for a lady. Courtesy is like a great equipage of the polite society. However, it is not behaviour that is set aside for special occasions. According to Robin Thompson, "Behaving politely is a way of life, not just something you pull out when you are at a wedding or a fancy restaurant". Courtesy should be automatic in a person's life that is, people need to be used to it as naturally as they do everyday chores. 

    Most people would define courtesy as polite behaviour that reflects good manners and respect and kindness to others. As much as most of the parents would desire, courtesy and respect are not traits that are innately ingrained in a child. However, children can be taught to be polite and courteous from the time he or she is young. By raising courteous children, their courteousness will help them feel comfortable and confident in any social setting. Besides, teaching courtesy to children is part of parent's five responsibilities for their children instructed by Our Lord of Buddha. Therefore, children should be taught good table manners and polite behaviour since their childhood. It is said that parents are the very first teachers for a child. So whether a child is courteous or not directly depends on his or her parents and environment they live. Children should be taught systematically how to live, talk and behave politely since their childhood. According to William Wordsworth, the child is the father of the man. It means that all what we do in childhood hardly change when we become adults. Therefore, courtesy and mutual respect should be taught at home since children are young. Home is the very first place where all of good and bad behaviours start to be rooted in. Besides, parents should send their children to the schools or organizations which are open to everyone to learn good manners and courtesy. Such kind of school is Dhamma school by Buddhist orgabization. Especially in today's high tech world of computer, tablets and smart phones, children learn quicker become smarter at a younger age. These advances in their intellect, however, will do them little good if parents fail to teach them social skills, courtesy and respect needed for getting along with others. These reasons show that why children should be taught to be polite and courteous since they are young and at home. 

    As Shinshi Suzuki once said, "Children learn to smile from their parents". So it is clear that a child always learn and imitate what to do from their parents. It is their parents who a child sees and lives closely since he or she was born. It is their home that starts all of their behaviours. Therefore, it can be totally said that courtesy is born at home and it is home-brew. Parents needs to be courteous and polite themselves and should be role models for their children.In this way, children can turn courteousness into a lifelong habit till they become adults and they will be able to discover that common courtesy offers in their personal and professional lives.

- By Htet Zaw Htoo