My Grandson Aidan with Marty....a few weeks ago!

I am a very interesting Grandparent. I m very loving nd huggy, of course. I am not afraid to get down on the ground (getting up is another matter) or getting dirty. I'm pretty laisse-faire about the whole "getting dirty" thing. (So is Marty: "You can hose 'em off! They are wash and wear!") But I know that I am and ever will be "Frau Getten-Zu-Assen, She-Wolf of The Miss Manners Gestapo." I will tell anybody's kid to use "Please" and Thank you." I don't give a royal rat's rear end whose kid it is. I'm not Calpernia the Maid and I ain't your Step-N-Fetch girl. If they're young, really young, I will say, "Please?" (Hint-hint.) If they're around 6 or older you can use a bit of sarcasm. If their teenagers or God forbid older than THAT, it's no holds barred!

What was it someone said? "Manner will get you anywhere." Or something like that. I don't necessarily mean Knife and Fork Manners, although those are extremely helpful. But Please and Thank You and just being a kind, courteous person. Nothing frosts my biscuit sideways than people who say manners are outdated or even worse; they don't know better, they weren't raised right, whatever the lame excuse of the week is. I see young people making those kind of excuses, for themselves and for their friends. I know people who were and are very poor, with great deal of misfortune in their past. Manners are learned and you can learn them any time.

Oh, (insert swear word), I sound like my (insert another swear word) grandmother now.