Maria Shriver reveals she made her children stand up whenever she entered room: 'Now they just do'

AUSTIN, TEXAS: Maria Shriver revealed how she instilled values of good manners in her children by making them stand up whenever she entered the room.

Shriver said she inherited the rule from her mother, Eunice Kennedy, which she passed on to her children.

Maria Shriver reveals she made her children 'stand up' whenever she entered their room

Maria Shiver made the revelation on Hoda Kotb's podcast 'Making Space' in Austin, Texas.

Shriver shares four children with her ex-husband Arnold Schwarzenegger: daughters Katherine, 35, and Christina, 33, and sons Patrick, 31, and Christopher, 27.

"I make them stand up. I used to make them. Now they just do stand up," Shriver told Kotb.

"There’s many things that I’ve emulated from my mother, but my grandmother and my mother were big on manners," Shriver said referring to the rule passed on to her from her mother and grandmother.

"So when somebody who was older walked in the room, aka my mother, everybody stood up," Shiver said, according to People.

Maria Shriver says they had to 'step up' with something to talk about at dinner tables

Maria Shriver described how their family dinners were structured around meaningful conversations.

"When we went to the dinner table, everybody had to have something to bring to the table to talk about, to converse about," said Shriver.

She added, "My mother would be like, 'What’s your opinion of the gospel? What’s your opinion of what the president said today?'"

She shared that even as children, they had to be prepared to speak and share ideas.  "You could be 10, 11, 19, 20, but you had to like step up," Shriver recalled.

Maria Shriver wanted her children to 'write thank you notes'

Maria Shriver shared her efforts to instill similar values in her four children.

"I wanted my kids to… when I walked in the room, or their dad walked in the room, or you would walk in the room, that they stand up out of respect," Shriver said, adding, "So when their friends would come over, I’d be like, ahem."

She also said she discouraged them from being glued to phones or TVs when someone arrived.

"I’d be like, 'I'm here. Here we are and here I am. And look me in the eye, say hello, thank me for coming. Write me a thank you note if I take you somewhere,'" Shriver explained.

"Even though my kids moaned and groaned about it, they now say it was a good thing," Shriver added.