And you have to be careful of using NCO type language around them.
They are good kids. Boychild helped with my closing up the property chores since bending over really, really hurts. He's closer to the ground than I am, anyway.
When I left, they were self-correcting on 'yes ma'am, no ma'am, yes sir, no sir'... And that's a lot for almost teenagers in today's world.
/johnny
Indeed it is. In fact, way back when I taught school for a few years, I noticed that the only kids that said a respectful maam and sir, had parents that were mostly from the military.
If the others even said it, the tone was sarcastic. I must admit, I wasn’t even raised to say maam or sir either. When my oldest came back from the Military Academy she was saying maam and sir, and it felt weird, but really nice.
Course, she didn’t like the Academy, so she resigned and went to Wright State University instead, and reverted to her prior behavior. It was nice while it lasted.
If I had it to do over, that’s one thing I would change. A nice polite maam or sir, can count for a lot.