Yes Ma'am and Yes Sir, what a good idea!

Brady's wonderfully creative teacher gave me another good idea today! He has been experiencing some issues with arguing at school, which actually is nothing new. We have struggled with this off and on over the years. He tries to argue his way out of trouble with almost always leads to more trouble.

I am hoping someday he will channel that into becoming a phenomenal debater, but at 7, it only upsets all the adults around him.

So... his teacher is teaching him to say "Yes, ma'am" when he is asked to do something or when he is corrected for a behavior. And she tells him, "It ends with that."

When I lived in South Carolina, I was amazed at the number of kids who said, "Yes, ma'am" and "Yes, sir." It was a requirement, I think, for most parents and the schools. I wasn't raised with that and we moved away and so I got away from it.

But I think it's a fabulous idea! I told Brady that the adults in his life will be really pleasantly surprised by his manners and politeness if he starts doing that. I told him he'll be really happy with the results. Heck, when he did it with me this morning I felt myself responding better and feeling proud and I'm the one who was telling him to do it!

I'm going to try and enforce it at home and I just pray God gives me the strength of will to persist with it.

Manners are sometimes lacking in our world, so this can't be anything but good. It will also be, I hope, like a "code word" to him for himself. When he says, "Yes, ma'am," it will hopefully trigger the idea that, uh oh, no arguing!

And saying, "Yes, sir" to the guys around him would be great too! I think guys would really love that.