Blog Posts by "Mary Jessica Hammes"
Hunting Easter eggs & good manners
Posted on Apr 21, 2011 by Mary Jessica Hammes |
We’re at the tail end of prime Easter egg hunting season — the big day is this Sunday. But it’s not too late to talk about etiquette for the cluster of last-minute hunts and get-togethers. For your consideration: • Those who receive invitations to an egg hunt should not only RSVP promptly, but ...
Tagged: easter eggs, etiquette, manners
Holding Your Breath #4
Posted on Apr 14, 2011 by Mary Jessica Hammes |
A friend of ours admits that using heightened manners around her preschool-aged daughter sometimes feels a little strange. It’s not that she and her husband are usually rude to each other — although she jokes that, if alone, she’d be much more likely to tell him “Move!” than th...
Tagged: holding your breath, childrens etiquette, etiquette, manners
Working with the Ron Clark Academy
Posted on Apr 8, 2011 by Mary Jessica Hammes |
Referencing a 1945 edition of Emily Post’s Etiquette! Does the name Ron Clark ring a bell? It might — Clark won the 2001 Disney Teacher of the Year award, appeared twice on the Oprah Winfrey show (Winfrey named him her first “Phenomenal Man”), and had his story made into a TV movie (starri...
Tagged: childrens etiquette, ron clark, ron clark academy
George Washington's Rules
Posted on Mar 28, 2011 by Mary Jessica Hammes |
Have you ever read “George Washington’s Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation”? Sometime before he turned 16, our first President wrote down these 110 rules. Our book copy has corrected and modernized spelling and sentence structure, which is helpful when quickly pe...
Tagged: george washington, george washingtons rules of civility, etiquette, manners
Holding Your Breath #3
Posted on Mar 22, 2011 by Mary Jessica Hammes |
A friend of ours has a very extroverted four-year-old who loves talking to people, even complete strangers. “If you are in a store and mention that you can’t find something, he is suddenly on a crusade to ask everyone who looks like they might remotely work in that store if they can help you fin...
Tagged: holding your breath, childrens etiquette
Take the theme park to your work
Posted on Mar 14, 2011 by Mary Jessica Hammes |
A former Perfectly Polished staff member recently chaperoned a high school trip to a popular theme park. She told us that as a child visiting the same park, she took for granted all the details that made her vacation perfect. But as an adult who is tuned into etiquette, she was more impressed wi...
Tagged: etiquette, manners, theme park etiquette, train to be a childrens etiquette consultant, childrens etiquette training, teach children manners
Holding Your Breath #2
Posted on Mar 10, 2011 by Mary Jessica Hammes |
Have you ever watched a child open a present with baited breath? We have. Very young children, as you likely know, say what’s on their minds. (Some adults do, too, but hopefully they have more of a brain filter.) But when we’re talking the pre-school set, there’s a 50-50 chance that the unwrappe...
Tagged: childrens etiquette, holding your breath, manners
Holding Your Breath #1
Posted on Mar 4, 2011 by Mary Jessica Hammes |
Welcome to Holding Your Breath installment #1! Please don’t really hold your breath — we’re just referring to those moments when adults (especially parents) anxiously watch as children navigate their world, trying to figure out how to treat others. Sometimes, children surprise us with a burst of...
Tagged: childrens etiquette, holding your breath, manners, etiquette certification, etiquette train the trainer program
A real class act
Posted on Feb 23, 2011 by Mary Jessica Hammes |
The story has been making the rounds all month: White House advisor Valerie Jarrett was attending a recent Washington dinner when Four-star Army Gen. Peter Chiarelli walked behind her. Jarrett, sitting down, only saw the general’s striped pants that resembled a waiter’s. So she asked him for a gl...
Tagged: etiquette, peter chiarelli, valerie jarrett, etiquette training certification, become an etiquette consultant, get certified as an etiquette trainer
Time to make the aspic
Posted on Feb 18, 2011 by Mary Jessica Hammes |
We have a soft spot for old etiquette guides. Are you young? Modern? Great! This book is for you! (1954, Scholastic) Or maybe you need to grow up a little first. (1962, Harper & Row) Some of the advice dispensed in these books holds true today. Some is completely outdated. Some borders on c...
Tagged: aspic, candy jones, etiquette, gay head, table setting, vintage etiquette guides
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