Horror stories nowdays of 5 year old school starters who don't know
what to do with a knife and fork - have always eaten fast-food, with
their fingers.

Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~ (uk)
http://community.webshots.com/user/sallyswin

On Sun, 2 Apr 2006 15:17:12 +0200, "Roberta Zollner"
wrote:--

Obviously nobody needs a mailed invitation to family dinner every evening,
and we mostly don't wear party clothes, and the food isn't always fancy, but
my children used the good china, set on a tablecloth, with candles, a
napkin, and cutlery/ glasses as required. And the rules were exactly as you
described every single night. Plus they were required to sit up straight,
participate in conversation, and help clear the table afterwards. They never
had any trouble with good manners in public. I lost a plate or 2 and an
occasional glass when they were very young, but considered it a cheap
tuition fee.

I love the idea of decorating hats to match the dress!
Roberta in D

"KI Graham" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:n2AXf.209193$sa3.33853@pd7tw1no...
Of course there are different sets of manners for different occasions:
that's part of the fun. If you know the rules, you can play the social
"game." And no one likes [or likes to be] a bad sport! I had an afternoon
"tea party" for 8 six-eight year old girls and their moms a couple of
summers ago. Formal invitations mailed to each child AND to each mom;
linen table cloths and napkins, my very best china and crystal. Party
dresses mandatory [for moms too.] Each attendee received a broad-brimmed
straw hat trimmed with ribbons to match her dress that she decorated with
matching silk flowers. We had sandwiches without the crusts, and meringues
and fruit and lemon-ginger scones with homemade lemon curd AND we all had
our very very best manners.

At the very beginning, I told all the girls the rules: try everything on
your plate and don't make comments if you don't like something; when
fingers are okay, when to use your knife and fork; remember the please and
thank you and to call people by their names....and it was "Mrs. Graham"
[not Kim] and "Miss Natasha" [not just Tasha]. Two and a half hours on a
hot sunny day on my back deck. No one broke anything, no one complained,
no one cried, no one even raised her voice!

At the end of the afternoon, each of the girls got to take her china cup
and saucer home. It was wonderful! On Sunday [when we all wore our hats
to church!], almost all the DADS came up to say "Thank you. You made my
little girl feel very special."

--
Kim Graham
http://members.shaw.ca/kigraham
Nanaimo, BC, Canada
THE WORD IN PATCHWORK

"Tia Mary" wrote in message
...
Roberta Zollner wrote:

I disagree that there are different sets of manners for home -start as
you mean to go on! One's family deserves polite and respectful behavior
just as much as strangers in a restaurant. And children who are polite
at home feel no stress when out in public.
Roberta in D

I didn't say that kids should be allowed to be rude or disrespectful
at home just that they don't have to be on their *best* behaviour. Even
we adults have different sets of rules and behaviours for different
social situations.
By teaching small children just exactly WHAT the different sets of
rules are, we encourage them to be critical thinkers and look at their
surroundings to determine just which set of behaviours are the most
appropriate. Even at school, kids are expected to behave differently in
the classroom, the playground and the cafeteria. There are certain rules
that DO apply in ALL situations (there is no excuse for rudeness &
disrespect) but I don't really believe that there is just one set of
general rules for ALL situations. CiaoMeow ^;;^