Good Grades or Good Manners: That Is the Question...

Recently, I attended an incredibly eye opening event called "Power of the Purse." The brunch, which took place during advertising week in New York City was targeted to moms and featured one of my favorite celebrity moms of all time...Sarah Jessica Parker.    Parker was on hand to react to findings of a new study about what is truly weighing on the minds of today's busy moms. While the survey shared many important results - including the fact that moms want to be accurately portrayed in the media and feel we're not or that fathers secretly long to switch roles and become stay at home dads, the statistic that struck me most was the fact that 77% of moms surveyed said they'd rather have a kid with good manners over one with good grades. Even Parker had this to say about her own son, James Wilke:

As someone who went through life striving to achieve good grades while having good manners along the way, I have to admit that as a mom, I have witnessed embarrassing behavior from my own kids and from other children too. When either of my kids do something that is inappropriate or rude, we call them out, make them apologize, or take something away from them so that they know we're not going to stand for that behavior. However, most moms I've seen simply cave in so that they don't have to deal with their kids' unruly demands.

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