I must agree – cartoons are not the way to teach manners.
But lets back up a step. Teaching a two-year old manners is a bit like trying to teach a pig to sing – it doesn’t work and it annoys the pig. But, just because it is difficult (i.e. impossible) doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start young.
Just realize that with a 2-year old, getting them to not throw fits when they want something that is physically or practically impossible is a remarkable achievement in manners. And if you can do that, when they are older, they will adopt manners with ease.
Of course, leading by example is important, but teaching by natural consequences is also key – i.e. if they don’t use their manners, they don’t get what they want. They don’t say “Thank you” when a gift is received, they have to give it back. This is not “yes”, “no” instructions, but real consequences for real actions. Daily and hourly reinforcement and interactive practice with real people, not TVs is best.
With a 2-year old you have a difficult choice to make. Either 1) she runs the house and you do whatever she wants to avoid her throwing a fit, falling deeper and deeper in to a downward spiral of reactionary “fit prevention” behavior or 2) You live with the fits, make sure she doesn’t get what she wants when she is throwing a fit and realize that when she throws a fit and doesn’t get what she wants, she is learning manners.
