Whats important for you?

Y'day in the middle of eating his pizza with this friend, T says "but mom l--- is eating with his mouth open". I somehow salvaged the situation there and moved on. 

I had been wanting to blog about this topic of how parents can enforce manners in kids and this is just as good time as another. For me, there are some manners that i swear by and i make sure that T learns them. I dont care what situation we are in, if there is a platform that i see as an opportunity for my son to learn, you bet, i'll seize it. He's learning to say his "No, thank you's", "Yes, please's", eating with mouth closed, cant swing feet while eating, using his table napkins, putting his shoes back where they belong, hang his towel after finishing it up, putting his clothes in the dirty laundry, he sometimes even tells his dad which one is a tea spoon and which one is a table spoon. I know i sound like a military mom but there are things i can tolerate except an unruly one.

However, its tricky when lines get fuzzy esp when we are in a setting where other parents dont acknowledge the same factor as an important stage to let thier kids know of what is acceptable and what isnt. I respect all parents choices irrepective of if i agree or not, I respect thier choices, i honestly do. But how do i explain my kiddo, that people make different choices, people dont tend to see the same picture even from the same stance. 

Instead, i probe T with questions that try to strike the point home that we are responsible just for our own manners and not everybody else's. Even as i'm reading my blog, i feel i come off as a harsh one, but, on my watch, I yearn for him to seek to do the right thing consciously. Do you ever see kids saying thank you without even looking at the person they are thanking for. I dont know why but it irks me!!

What are the ones that you lay the line on?? What are some important ones for you, do you ever think?