A little spice with your sugar...

A New Year...... Two Thousand and Eleven.  I think I will start the New Year with a bit of a rant. What the heck ever happened to MANNERS????  Even here in the South where by golly if you didn't know or use your manners your momma would take a switch to your behind, they seem to have disappeared. We have a whole new generation of young people who seem to think they are just ENTITLED. What ever happen to setting goals, having responsibilities and demanding respect???   There is no such thing as thank you anymore, or please or I enjoyed it, or even just the courtesy of a smile, after all who do you think paid for those perfectly straight white teeth???  Parents, I hold a challenge to you for the New Year, be bold, be brave, start teaching your children , your teens, your young adults before it is too late. Hold them accountable, teach them that the real gift is in GIVING and not receiving. Teach them that older people are the lifeline to our past and can help us to have a better future. Teach them that helping others is not a chore but a remarkable blessing.  Take away the cell phones at the dinner table and at restaurants, teach them that a conversation may enlighten their world.  Go into their room at night and take the ear plugs from their ears and whisper , "I love You." 

Hold hands when you give thanks to the Lord up above for that nightly dinner and squeeze the persons hand to show you love them. When they roll their eyes at you because number one they don't believe in prayer and number two they don't want to touch you, pray a little harder and squeeze a little tighter.
Don't waste your time on criticizing their wardrobe, if they want to look like an idiot in torn to pieces jeans or clothing that needs to be on a makeover show, just smile and nod;  focus on what they are putting out there as human beings.
My two children are not perfect, they have their faults and moments just like everyone else, but I will say this, they have excellent manners and they use them. They can carry a conversation. They treat people with respect and they are both very caring young adults who would help a stranger..... and if they didn't...... this Sugarville girl would stomp outside with her finest heels and pick the cutest switch she could find...... take the challenge!