Mrs. Pringle’s Politeness Policy

“Now class,” said Emily’s schoolteacher, “you all know this is politeness week at our school. So today our school principal, Mrs. Pringle, is going to teach us some politeness skills. We’re going to practice being polite by gathering around this table for a tea party.”

“Tea party?!” Emily perked up. “I know how to be polite at a tea party,” she thought. “Jessie and I have tea parties all the time.”

Emily joined the rest of the students around the big table at the back of the classroom. Mrs. Pringle had set the table with plates and cups. She poured pink juice into each cup and instructed the students to politely pass the cups to the person beside them. Finally, everyone had a cup. But before they could drink their juice, they had to listen to Mrs. Pringle talk about some rules like lay your napkin in your lap, don’t cough at the table, don’t reach over someone’s plate, and a lot of other things Emily never knew. “Wow!” Emily said to herself. “There’s a lot more to being polite than I thought.”

Emily’s thoughts were interrupted when Mrs. Pringle corrected one of the kids. “Joey,” she scolded, “don’t make slurping noises.” The class giggled at Joey, which made him laugh. But before he could swallow, his juice spewed out from his nose!

“Ewww!” The class erupted in laughter as Joey coughed and sputtered. Mrs. Pringle flustered around and smashed a napkin in Joey’s face, trying to keep him from making any more messes. Emily’s teacher decided it was time for recess and sent the class outdoors.

Emily had learned quite a few things about politeness from Mrs. Pringle. And that evening at dinner, she decided to show everyone just how much she had learned. Emily sat up straight in her chair and laid her napkin on her lap the way Mrs. Pringle had showed them.

After Emily’s dad prayed, he picked up a platter of chicken and passed it to Emily’s brother, Jeremy. “Uh-uh, Daddy,” Emily gently scolded. “You’re supposed to pass the food this way, not that way.”

“What?” Dad asked.

Mom laughed. “Mrs. Pringle gave Emily’s class a lesson in etiquette today,” she explained.

Emily shook her head. “No, Mommy. It’s not edcut; it’s politeness.”

“That’s the same thing,” said Jeremy with his mouth full of chicken. “Mrs. Pringle said it’s politeness week at school.”

Emily stared at her brother, watching the chicken swoosh around in his mouth as he talked.

“Ick, Jeremy,” said Emily. “It’s not polite to talk with your mouth full.”

Jeremy closed his mouth and swallowed. Then Emily took a bite of her food and chewed very carefully, making sure her lips were tightly closed. But when Jeremy picked up his napkin and stuffed it into his shirt collar, Emily immediately spoke up. “Your napkin should be on your lap,” she corrected him, forgetting about her own mouthful of food.

Jeremy reached across Emily for the salt. “Hey, Dad! Guess what happened in school today,” he said eagerly.

“I’m sure I can’t guess,” Dad replied.

“Well, I won the—” Jeremy began but was interrupted by his sister’s voice.

Emily was waggling her finger at him, saying, “You’re not supposed to be reaching across the table.”

Jeremy sighed. “All right. Emily, will you please pass me the salt?” he asked.

Emily nodded and passed the salt to her brother. “Anyway,” he said continuing with his exciting news, “I won the—”

“Jeremy!” Emily interrupted again. “You didn’t say thank you after I passed the salt to you.”

“Huh? Oh yeah, thanks,” Jeremy said quickly then turned back to his dad.

“And you’re supposed to sit straight in your chair,” Emily corrected.

Finally, Dad said, “You know, Emily, you need to get that log out of your eye.”

Emily frowned. “I need to what?”

“You need to stop and think about what you are doing before you pick on anyone else about something,” Dad explained.

“Right,” Mom agreed. “You’ve been so busy watching everyone else for any little thing that’s impolite, you haven’t even noticed that you’ve been doing some impolite ‘no-no’s’ yourself.”

“I have?!” Emily was surprised. “I don’t remember doing anything wrong.”

“Well, for starters,” Mom explained, “you were correcting me and Dad when you were the one who was wrong. You are supposed to pass food to the right like Dad was doing. And the word etiquette does mean politeness.”

“And you also interrupted your brother twice because you weren’t paying attention to what he was saying. Instead, you were too interested in pointing out his mistakes,” said Dad.

“Yeah,” Jeremy added, “and you were even talking with your mouth full, just like me.”

Emily gasped and stared at Jeremy. She had such a funny look, it made everyone laugh, including Emily. “I’m sorry for picking on you guys,” she said. “I guess I’m not as polite as I thought.”

“Hey,” said Jeremy. “I was going to tell you what I won today.”

“What did you win, Jeremy?” asked Dad.

Jeremy snickered. “I won Mrs. Pringle’s Politeness Policy Award for being the most polite kid in the school lunchroom!”

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