The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners

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All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 1985 by St an and Jan Berenstain
Originally published by Random House in 1985
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e-ISBN: 1-59019-232-X
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 There was trouble in the big tree
house down a sunny dirt road deep in
Bear Country-trouble with manners.
The Bear family's trouble with manners
was that they forgot them!
 At first it was just an
occasional "please" or "thank
you" that was forgotten.

Then there was a rude push

without an "excuse me."
Then a reach across the table instead
of a "please pass the broccoli."
 Mama Bear wasn't quite sure how or
why it happened. But she was sure of one
thing-whatever the reason, the Bear family
had become a pushing, shoving, name-
calling, ill-mannered mess!
 At the table it was even worse. They were
a grabbing, mouth-stuffing, food-fighting,
kicking-under-the-table super mess!
 Of course, Mama Bear tried to correct
Brother and Sister Bear's behavior.

She tried coaxing.

She tried complaining.

She tried shouting!

She tried going to Papa for

help (though it sometimes
seemed to Mama that he was
part of the problem).
 Papa banged on the
table and shouted as
only he could shout.
But nothing really
seemed to do any good.
 Mama didn't like what was
happening to her family. Not
one bit. Something had to be
done. But what? The best way
to fight bad habits, she thought,
was with good habits. Then she
thought of a plan. She got a big
piece of cardboard and a marker.
At the top she wrote:
THE BEAR FAMILY POLITENESS PLAN
 When the plan was finished,
she called a family meeting and
showed it to Papa and the cubs.
It certainly got the Bear family's attention!
 Mama's plan had a list of all the rude
things she wanted to stop. Beside each
one was a penalty-a job or chore that
went with it. If you forgot a "please"
or a "thank you," you had to sweep the
front steps. If you pushed or shoved,
you had to beat two rugs. If you got
caught name calling, you had to clean
the whole cellar!
 "But, Mama!" sputtered the cubs. "You're not
being fair!"
"It seems to me," she said, "that you're the ones
who aren't being fair-to yourselves or anyone
else. That's what manners are all about-being
fair and considerate. Manners are very important
They help us get along with each other.
Why, without manners-"
"Your mama's absolutely right!"
interrupted Papa.
 "Thank you, Papa, for your comment.
But interrupting is number three on the
Rude List, and the penalty is dusting the
downstairs," Mama said, and handed him the
feather duster.
 "Hmm," said Brother. "This looks serious.
I think we'd better come up with a plan of
our own or were going to be doing a lot
of extra chores."
"What sort of plan?" asked Sister.
"Well," he said, "instead of just being
polite, we'll be super polite. We'll
‘please’ and 'thank you' so much that
Mama will get fed up and call the whole
thing off!"
"Yes," said Sister. "We'll be so polite,
she won't be able to stand it!"
 They put their plan into action.
They were super polite...

—on the stairs;

"After you, Sister dear!"
"Thank you, dear Brother!"

—in the hall:

"Excuse me, Brother
dear!"
"Why, certainly, my
dear Sister!"
—waiting for the
bathroom:
'Terribly sorry to have
kept you waiting!"
'Think nothing of it,
my dear!"
 But it didn't work the way they expected.
Mama didn't get fed up at all. And after a
while Brother and Sister forgot about
being super polite and were
just polite...

—at the table:

"Pass the honey,
please."
"Certainly."

—in their room:

"Would you like me to
help you pick up your toys?"
"Thank you very much."
 —in the yard:
"Oops! Sorry-I didn't
mean to bump you."
"That's all right. No
harm done."

And it turned out that Mama had

been right: things did go more
smoothly. Once they got into the
good manners habit, they didn't
even have to think about it.
 But it wasn't so easy for Papa. He was
the one who got fed up. It's a little
harder to change habits when you're older,
and he had to do quite a few extra chores
for forgetting his manners.
"I'm glad to get out of the house, away
from that Politeness Plan!" he said as
he drove the family along the highway on
a trip to the supermarket.
 "Manners and courtesy are just as
important away from home—especially
on the road," said Mama as they
stopped at a stop sign to let
pedestrians and other cars pass.
"They help us drive safely."
 "Well," grumbled Papa as they all went
into the busy supermarket, "I think you
can have too much of a good thing-
you've got to have common sense along
with manners! Why, if you let everyone
go ahead of you at the checkout, you'd
be there forever!
 "And sometimes you have to interrupt-
Excuse me, madam," he interrupted a
shopper, "but I believe you have a
leaking bottle in your cart!" The
shopper thanked him for his help.
 "You see?" he said, driving home.
"There's more to life than remembering
your manners. Besides, manners are all
right for cubs and mama bears...
"... but we papa bears have other
things to think about—" At that
moment the car in front stopped
suddenly and Papa bumped into it.
He was furious. "Why, that pinheaded
fiddlebrain!" he snarled.
"Name calling!" reminded Sister.
 The penalty for name calling was
cleaning the whole cellar, so Papa gritted his
teeth and remembered his manners. And a
good thing, too. Because climbing out of the
other car was the biggest, angriest bear he
had ever seen!
 But when the angry bear saw how polite
Papa was, he remembered his manners too. He
explained that he had stopped short because a
mama duck and her ducklings had crossed in front
of him. Then he and Papa Bear looked at their
bumpers and saw that no harm had been done.
 "As I was saying," said Papa as they
continued on their way, "it's very
important for us to remember our manners
at all times-and I want to thank you,
Sister, for reminding me to remember
mine."
"You're very welcome, I'm sure,"
said Sister Bear politely.