Another area where both children and adults fall short is in using the phrase “Excuse me.” Now I don’t mean that snotty, get out of my way now sort of “Excuse me” that many people over use, I mean the “oops!” variety of “Excuse me.” Of course, knowing when to say “Excuse me” generally requires a sense of what is and is not appropriate in social situations. Passing gas by any manner and pushing people are not commonly accepted in polite society and require an “Excuse me.” These are things that must be modeled at home for a child to understand. If your family makes a habit of passing gas and giggling while at home, you can well expect your child to do the same in public. Scolding him for doing it in public and giggling about it at home will only confuse the child. As for pushing or bumping into people, we see children do this all the time without being corrected. The key here is to teach your child that pushing other people is unacceptable behavior and requires an apology, such as “Excuse me. I didn’t mean to push you.” Of course it helps if they didn’t actually mean to do it. The child who pushes others and then feigns embarrassment is simply a nuisance. There is one more use for “Excuse me” that should be touched upon here since it is rarely used anymore. When two adults are talking and a child wishes to interrupt in order to speak to one of the adults, an “Excuse me” is definitely in order. Now, mind you, you’ll need to teach your child that saying “Excuse me” does not grant them the floor indefinitely, nor does it merit a complete break in conversation and all eyes on the interrupting child. The child should be taught to say “Excuse me” once and then stand by until the adults have finished their train of thought. Of course, “Excuse me, somebody is bleeding” should merit a much different response than “Excuse me, my pony has red hair”.