Certified Etiquette Consultant Trained by Manners To Go

Etiquette Consultant, LindaFaye Newtown

We would like to take this opportunity to introduce our newest certified etiquette consultant, Lindafaye Newton, from Richmond, Virginia. She is now licensed and certified to teach the Manners To Go program and we are thrilled to have her. Lindafaye brings a depth of experience to Manners To Go.

Lindafaye has worked within the public education system for years. She is not only an educator, but a mother of six. She talks to us about her passion and her mission to teach manners to as many children as possible in Richmond, Virginia. Enjoy my interview with her.

Lindafaye, tell us why you love to teach children?

Well, my first thought is that I love to teach because it is that one thing, besides singing, which comes so easily to me. I see it as a gift from God. It’s a gift that keeps on giving, because I am rewarded on a daily basis!

What brings you the most joy from your students?

The greatest joy is in witnessing the “light” that comes into the eyes of a student when he or she “gets it.”

What is your teaching philosophy?

Marva Collins, a teacher who founded the Westside Preparatory School in Chicago, has been my inspiration since I first heard of her back in the 1980s. She taught children who were labeled “learning disabled” how to read and understand Shakespeare, among other things. I adopted her philosophy, and that is, children learn exactly what you teach them.

What advice would you give to other mothers about raising happy and healthy children?

I say, if you teach them nothing else, teach them very early what it means to have integrity, and to be honest in all they do. Teaching these characteristics, especially when you model them in your very own life, goes a long way to raising happy and healthy children. Also, know that children want our guidance and direction. My first born are identical twin girls. It was so important to me to make sure that they understood even though they were identical, in genetics and their physical beings, they were individuals, in their emotional and spiritual selves. I didn’t know it then, but I was basically teaching them to be emotionally intelligent, by being true to themselves. I am proud to say that all six of my children frequently thank me for the way they were raised.

If you could invite anyone to dinner, who would be on your guest list? (living or deceased)

That would be my paternal grandmother! I did not really get to know her. When I was very young, three or four years old, my mother married someone other than my father, allowed him to adopt me without the permission of my biological father, and forbade my grandmother from seeing me again. Apparently, I had spent a lot of time with my grandmother, but don’t remember much of it. I met her again as a young adult, and only shared two meals with her. I would love to have had a lifetime of dinners with her so I could just sit, talk, and share my thoughts and receive wisdom from her.

Tell us about the Sister Card Club? When did you launch it? Why did you create it?

The Sister Card Club: The Official Guide to Becoming and Being a Young Woman — that is the full title of the workbook pages I have written for club members. The purpose of the Sister Card Club is to provide a guide for tween and teen girls that leads them on an intentional journey.

I have mentored girls in my church, and my children’s schools since the late 1980s. I officially launched the Sister Card Club in October of 2011 and formed an LLC.

Why did I create The Sister Card Club? Since my twin girls were tweens themselves, they were always bringing their friends home to “hang out”. Many times I would end up mentoring, and giving guidance to their friends. In 1991, I became a member of a very young church in my community. I realized the children, especially the girls, did not have any adult guidance. Most were being raised by a grandmother or an aunt and were in dire need of the basics in life. I soon began borrowing the church bus to pick up the girls on the weekends, bring them to my house to teach them simple things like how to take care of, and groom themselves. One day I decided that I needed to sit down and outline the things these girls needed to know and learn in order to reduce risk in succumbing to the same fate as their mothers. At that point I knew that that was my purpose in life . . . my calling.

The name Sister Card Club came to me after a discussion with a friend about where I could find a book to teach the girls everything in my outline. This friend laughed and said “Girl, I’m going to take your sister card away from you . . . you have the book right there! (pointing to my head) YOU write the book you’re looking for!” That is when I decided I was going to start the “Sister Card Club” and write a book. (Hence, the Official Guide to Becoming and Being a Young Woman, which is a workbook for club members.)

Flats or heels?

Umm. . . .I consider myself to be a really girly girl. I LOVE wearing heels . . . but I don’t wear them as often now because as a teacher I am on my feet and/or walking all day. So, a combination of now being in the teaching field, and reaching another “stage” in my life, when I go to my closet in the mornings, I tend to gravitate to the flats when I go to my closet in the morning!

What was your favorite book that you read to your children when they were growing up?

My very favorite books to read to my children were the Berenstain Bears books by Stan and Jan Berenstain. There was a life lesson in every story. Their favorite book for me to read was Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Stepto. It is a story about beauty on the inside and on the outside.

How to Train and Become Certified to Teach Manners to Children

If you would like to teach the Manners To Go program in your area, click here for more information.

If you are interested in starting your own business teaching manners to children, I invite you to have a conversation. Whether we decide to work together or not, I am confident our call will be full of insights.