I'm calling it "The Bear Family Politeness Plan". It seems to me that the best way to fight bad habits is with good habits. For example, if any of us forgets to say "please and thank you", he or she has to sweep the front steps. And pushing or shoving means you have to beat two rugs.
[Echoing from the book, if you forgot a "please" or "thank you" you had to sweep the front steps, if you pushed or shoved you had to beat two rugs, and if you got caught name calling you had to clean the entire cellar. In the book, it says, "If you forgot a 'please' or 'thank you' you had to sweep the front steps, if you pushed or shoved you had to beat two rugs, if you were caught interrupting you had to dust the downstairs, and if you were caught name calling you had to clean the entire cellar".]
But Mama, all those chores?
YOU'RE NOT BEING FAIR!
It seems to me that you're the ones that aren't being fair. Manners help us to get along with each other. Why, without manners...
[interrupts] Your mama's absolutely right!
Thanks for your comment, Papa, but interrupting is number 3 on the rude list. And the penalty is dusting the room.
But...
You didn't say, "thank you" for the duster. I'm afraid that means after you're finished dusting, you have to sweep the front steps (and that's number 1). [leaves the living room]
[Papa starts dusting the table with a feather duster]
[reading the chart] Rude noises, what does that mean?
Oh you know, [blows raspberry]
Penalty number 7!
[names the penalty for the 7th rule; as shown on the "Bear Family Politeness Plan" rule list] Weed the garden!?
[Later, Papa dusts the downstairs, sweeps the front steps, pull the weeds from the garden. This was penalties 3, 1, and 7. He was caught interrupting, forgot a "Please" and a "Thank You", and made rude noises. And indeed, when starting the "Bear Family Politeness Plan", forgetting a "Please" or a "Thank You" meant you had to sweep the front steps, pushing or shoving was beat two rugs, interrupting was sweep the front steps, and name calling was cleaning the entire cellar.]
This is serious. If we're not careful, we may end up doing all those chores.
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