From Smart Girls Think Twice, by Jan Silvious

My cousin, Shellie Donow, a bright woman with four children just sent this to me. It is wonderful advice for women of all ages.

(page 92-3)

"Smart Girls are careful with their speech because they know that their words reveal their character. Pleasant, respectful words are the root of good manners and reflect the true heart of the person speaking. Civility in our culture has plummeted to a sad level, and the use of unkind, demeaning words is more rampant than ever before. I attribute much of this failure on the part of parents to set limits on the sort of language they will accept from thier children...

If parents don't expect and require appropriate speech, they won't get it. It takes daily training with continual reminders to mold children into respectful, mannerly adults." "Parents should stay on their children about the way they answer adults and saying please and thank you . If you don't train them, no one else will. But if you do, your hard work will pay off for years to come. Someday, they will move into positions of responsibility where their attention to etiquette will give them a true advantage over their peers who didn't cut their teeth at your good manners academy. Of course, choosing our own words carefully is just as important, maybe more so. It's clear to me that rude adults influence their children to be rude. And each time we fail to filter our words, we add to the general decline in our culture toward using discourteous, cheap, or uncouth words. A Smart Girl can help change that trend by deciding that, whatever happens, she will use only words that are respectful, words that honor others, herself, and the God she serves. ...Cursing is a habit that shows smallness of heart and spirit, and it has no place in the speech of a Smart Girl....."

We all thank you Ms. Silvious and Shellie for passing it on.