Tatler reveals top tips for turning children into 'Totlers' with etiquette guide

A renowned lifestyle magazine has created a bizarre guide to “toddler etiquette” to help parents raise youngsters with impeccable manners.

Advice in the ‘Tatler guide to toddler etiquette’ includes being nice to your child if he or she is being an “a***hole” and remembering toddlers have “a similar psychological make-up to psychopaths”.

It also advises parents to allow their children to wear clothes of their choice and practical guidance such as keeping to a certain bedtime so they can become a "Totler".

The guide states: “To be clear (before the complaints pour in), this is about toddler etiquette. Not about parenting. Not about allowing them to grow like saplings in myriad beautiful and compelling (to you, at least) ways.”

It adds: “So, if manners hold no sway over the way you and your toddler interact with the world, then, in a loving way, leave this page.

“But, if you are interested to know how others tend to react to the introduction of your precious jewel into their house/eyeline/earshot, here are some hints.”

The guide is divided into a series of subsections, with author Annabel Rivkin outlining different things she believes parents should encourage or discourage from their child.

She advises against letting children share their food, taking too many photos of a child in front of others and says parents should “choose their audience” when showing off their toddler.

But the guide says parents should encourage impromptu dancing – as long as it does not attract too much attention.