Toddler manners

My 2-year-old daughter has picked up the bad habit of identifying body parts. At lunch with work colleagues, for example, my daughter grabbed my friend’s chest and exclaimed, “Boobies!”

Now I must confess here that I did in fact encourage her to do this in the privacy of our home where I think it’s hilarious and will laugh every time she does it.

But in public, I was a little embarrassed.

The funny thing was that everyone else thought it was hilarious, too. I could never get away with something like that. Trust me — I’ve tried. It just doesn’t get the same reaction when an adult does it.

But as funny as I think it is now, I know it won’t be so hilarious when she’s in school and gets labeled as the class weirdo.

So how do you teach children appropriate manners/social behaviors without stomping on their carefree and hilarious little personalities?