Customer Reviews

Everyday Graces: Child's Book Of Good Manners (Foundations)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great collection of poems, book exerpts, and stories geared towards leading a child to good morals and desirable habits. My daughter (6 yo) loves reading these stories and poems.

The book is divided into sections, each focusing on a different moral trait or good habit, such as honesty, good table manners, and responsibility. Parents and children will find this collection interesting and entertaining. Many exerpts and poems have a humorous bent, which helps to freshen a possibly dry and tedious topic. Exerpts are taken from a wide variety of authors, from L.M. Montgomery (_Anne of Green Gables_), to the whimsical Shel Silverstein.

This is a book that is a great resource for good manners and habits.

PROS:
I bought this book for my 5 year old daughter, and we have been really enjoying it as it is a wonderful collection of literature. Each story comes with a little blurb emphasizing the moral of the story.

I read some of the other reviews and a few seem to knock teaching morals through stories. However, I disagree -- so many of us like a good story, and it is a great story that maybe teaches us a little something.

A story has been a great way to spark a conversation with my daughter about what happened to a certain character. We can start examining morals and life lessons, and work through how to make good choices.

CONS:
The only con for this book I have is some of the literature is made for a child a little bit older than my daughter. As I said, she is 5 (almost 6) and she has had a harder time comprehending SOME of the stories written with an older English. However, for every story that she might have difficulty with, there are usually 6-10 other poems or stories where it is not a problem, and she will grow into the rest of the stories.

CONCLUSION:
I really like this book and believe it was worth the money.

Our daily reading routine usually includes devotions in the morning and stories in the evening. Our boys, ages 4,6, and 8 each get to pick a story and mom or dad gets to pick one. For the parents' choice we usually pick a story which teaches a moral lesson. This book, is one of the better ones for this purpose as many of the stories or short enough for bedtime. The stories are also categorized for easy selection. Even though this is not our kids bedtime story choice, they do enjoy listening to them and they do pay attention and ask questions - important on moral lessons.

My 5 and 7 year old children love this book! We are using it for bed time read aloud. It contains all kinds of stories and poems from the last few centuries. Some of the stories are a little "mature" for my 5 year old, but the 7 year old "gets" them all.

The stories teach lessons on manners without being too blatant - the kids understand the moral of the stories without being "hit over the head with a hammer". The stories are all interesting and very entertaining.

This has been a very enjoyable read for us and both the boy and the girl ask for it over and over. One note though - this book isn't interesting at all to our 3 year old, so it is more for elementary age children I think. The preschoolers will probably be too young to enjoy it for a while.

This book has some wonderful, beautiful gems in it. There were many poems and selections from books that I remember from my own childhood, but also some that I have never heard of. The book is mostly too old for my 2 1/2 year old daughters, but there are a few poems and selections that I can read to them and get their attention with. There aren't many pictures - I can't recall any, but think there might be a few small drawings. This is for children old enough to listen as you read aloud. I am thrilled to have this book on my shelf, where my children can read through and explore it when they get older. I appreciated that there was a mix of styles, from whimsical poems by Shel Silverstein to selections from Anne of Green Gables.

One of the greatest things about this book is that it calls one's attention to indispensable classics that parents may have forgotten, or never read before. I will be buying some of the books which selections were chosen from, and referring to this book as my children grow up to get ideas for stocking the family library.

I do have a few minor complaints. First, many selections are followed up by a 'moral' written in everyday language. I found this potentially trite and the points were overly belabored. Also, sometimes the switch in tone could be jarring after some of the selections. However, I think that these little notes will have the desired effect as long as I don't read them and just leave them for my children to discover when they are able to read for themselves. I'm hoping that they will come across as little treasures and surprises for my children to discover on their own.

Second, some of the selections came from novels and needed a lot of prefacing to explain their context, and even then seemed a bit disjointed. Most were fine, but occasionally I just felt like something was missing as I read the selection.

This is an excellent compilation of stories and excerpts from familiar literature that have great messages. There are few illustrations so it may be difficult to hold the attention of toddlers and young preschoolers, but my school aged kids love it. It is a definite "read aloud" since the language is rich and proper in most selections, but you will find that even though your children don't understand every word, they are absorbing the lessons and growing their minds.

What a delightful book! It is a wonderful collection of stories and poems, bound to thrill and inspire every child who hears or reads it. The beauty of the book is that it entertains and teaches. What better tool for parents who want to teach their children good manners but don't want to bore them to tears with a bunch of rules! The imaginations of children will be captured and their hearts imprinted with the virtuous example of everyday heroes and heroines. I love the way the author follows each story with a brief synopsis of the lesson on virtue and manners that children can take away from the story. Every family needs a copy of this book in their home!

It is a great book for children and adults. We need to get back to manners, courtesy, and morals. I like to give this a baby shower present.

I highly recommend it. It has all kinds of literature in it (poetry, classical lit, bible verses, etc). The first section is about obeying your parents. The author gives examples through literature of children who didn't obey their parents and the consequences. For example, she retells the Greek myth of Icarus and His Father. It's very fun and helps spark conversation about obedience throughout the day with "remember the story...". For those of you who lean on Scripture for instruction to your little ones, it includes it and may be at the heart of this book as well, but the author doesn't wave it in your face on every page.

I am a homeschool mom of four children ages 7 thru 13. This is the best book I have found for teaching manners. The stories and poems are a great way to keep the children interested. I highly recommend this book.