About SocialSmarts: Life Skills For Kids and Families

At SocialSmarts we believe that children benefit strongly from knowing and following the rules of proper behavior. Our society today reflects decades of eroding human values. But, rather than simply sit around and commiserate with others about this decline in values and behaviors, we have taken action by developing a program that seeks to make a difference in the lives of the children and families it touches.

SocialSmarts is based on the following four guiding principles:

Good Manners begins with consideration of others. It is this thinking "beyond oneself" that is the foundation for how we speak and act when interacting with others.

Developing and exhibiting kindness and consideration in all dealings with others will ultimately make for a happier, safer, and more successful life for the child. This foundation of mannerly behavior becomes even more important as the child grows into adulthood, as he or she enters the working world, contributes to society in various ways, and one day possibly parents a new generation of children.

Kindness, consideration, and the ensuing civility in behavior must not only be taught, but also must be practiced and reinforced by example in the family, in schools, and in the child's everyday world.

Rather than dismiss manners and etiquette - which is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "the conventional rules of social behavior or professional conduct" - as old-fashioned, fussy, and irrelevant, The PoliteChild recognizes that we need to return to a more civilized period of behavior, where people are responsible and accountable for their words and actions.

Although the world can be a rough place in which to live, and we cannot always change what others say and do, we can change how we act and speak, and hope that by "keeping our own houses clean" we can serve as positive examples in our homes, our communities, and in the world at large.