About Vernon J. DeFlanders Sr. — Author of Teaching Kids Good Manners

Vernon's Story

Good Manners Aren't Old-Fashioned.
They're Timeless.

I grew up in a time when manners were not optional. You looked adults in the eye. You said "yes sir" and "yes ma'am." You held the door. You wrote the thank-you note. Not because someone was watching — but because that was what people of character did.

I served in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam era. I spent more than 20 years as a federal logistics engineer. I raised children. I became a grandfather. And somewhere along the way, I noticed that the basics — the simple, practical, non-negotiable things that make a child a pleasure to be around — were disappearing.

That's why I built MannersMatterNow.com. Not to lecture. Not to sell a parenting philosophy. But to give parents, grandparents, and teachers a simple, practical set of tools that actually work — the same values I was raised with, organized so you can pass them on today.

My flagship book, Teaching Kids Good Manners the Old-School Way, has earned more than 142 five-star reviews on Amazon. The toolkits on this site are the natural next step — printable, practical, and ready to use tonight.

This is not complicated. A child who knows how to behave in public is a child who gets invited back. That's the whole goal.