Kids and Yes/No Ma'am and Yes/No Sir (Atlanta: neighborhood, school)

[LovelySummer]

Everyone,

We aren't from here and we've got a toddler. He's 2. Should we teach him to say "yes/no ma'am/sir" or just a polite "yes/no"? We don't want anyone in the South to think he's not well-trained it's just that we don't use the extra "ma'am/sir" or extra anything where we are from and I don't use it myself, even here in Atlanta. In fact, I have been known to tell a teen or airline rep on the phone to stop calling me "ma'am" at the end of every freaking sentence that the person says...stop calling me ma'am, period. It's just so unnecessary to me.

Do Southerners still expect kids to say that or is there more flexibility in a city like Atlanta since there is such a mix of northerners and southerners?

What do you do with your children? Would you think a kid/toddler that talked to adults with simple "yeses/nos" did not have manners?

Thanks

[Mattie]

We moved here when my kids were 13 and 14. Despite never having used the sir/ma'am prior, they quickly picked it up at school, where it seemed to be expected. Didn't hurt them one bit. It has grown on me.

[jsvh]

There is flexibility in Atlanta. It is a more "traditional" southern thing. But I still think it is nice.

Edit: I was raised with it and still use it as a show of respect and out of habit.

[Zimbochick]

I was raised on a different continent and we were taught to use Ma'am and Sir.

[midtown mile girl]

Please teach them to use Yes Ma'am and Sir. Teach them to be polite and considerate, and good table manners. These are the kind of things that make a good impression no matter where they are on the planet, and that's worth something.

[ATLTJL]

Personally, I don't really like it. I wasn't raised with it, so to me if a kid called me "sir" it's almost like an admission of some kind of guilt he is trying to get away with. Kids tend to use it more when they are in trouble or think they are in trouble to ingratiate adults. They're smart that way!

But I don't necessarily have a huge problem. If I had kids, I wouldn't teach them to use it, but they figure out sooner or later how to do it at their own discretion anyway. In certain circumstances it is appropriate and overkill in others. Probably a good idea for them to learn the difference sooner rather than later.

Good table manners and please and thank you are always appropriate.

[arjay57]

I don't see any reason why children (as well as adults) shouldn't learn to be polite and respectful.

[CMMom]

My children do Tae Kwon Do and if they don't say "yes ma'am/yes sir," they have to do push-ups. The practice is consistent across the American Tae Kwon Do Association, so it's not just a Southern thing either.

[lorilove]

I recently met a new neighbor that is not from the South and from what I could tell is my age or older. She was asking me some general neighborhood questions and kept responding to me as Yes Ma'am - absolutely drove me crazy. Definitely learn when not to use Yes Sir or Yes Ma'am!

[sirrob]

Politeness in kids will take them a looooong way in life. It's also a great reflection of their parents. So yes-no/ sir/ma'am, is completely acceptable no matter where you live.