Those darn kids these days. No manners. No respect for others.
When Golden Valley's Ira Hackner started having these thoughts a few years back, he had two choices: He could devolve into a "get off my lawn" coot -- or he could do something about it.
He chose the latter course, and now his "Kids Good Manners" DVD is spreading the gospel of propriety and protocol at hundreds of schools and day care centers.
"The kids love it, and it reinforces what we try to teach," said day care provider Heidi Bloom, who estimates that she has screened the DVD at least 50 times at her Crystal day care center. "And it has an immediate effect. They try to behave. They also call each other out. They love doing that."
Hackner, 51, the father of 8-year-old Tyler, designed the video to teach rather than preach, to deliver some serious ideas in a not-so-serious format.
"Making it fun was very important," he said.
So after getting feedback from teachers and day care workers, he hired local kids to act out situations and local writers to provide entertaining multiple-choice questions.
"The kids love the game-show format," Bloom said. "And the part on table manners, where a boy is making a big mess with his food, they love that, too."
