Strollerderby : table manners

Childfree and B*tchy. Why Yes You Are

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:57:00 GMT

I get the tension between breeders and non-breeders, the child-free and the child-imprisoned, the kid-friendly and the no-kid-near-my-silk. You don't want my kids in your restaurants, or in your house or anywhere near your precious stuff. That part is perfectly clear.

What isn't clear is why it is necessary for some people without children to express their extreme dislike of all people small and whiny, who have a funny knack of being everywhere.

If you hate children to be where you are, you ought to move into one of those nice 55 and over parks where children are banned so you can retire from the messy business of living among the inconvenience of small smelly human beings.

[Photo Credit: GeoCities]

Teaching Table Manners

Amy Kuras — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:48:00 GMT

Want to start an argument between the child-free and the, um, childed? Ask about children's behavior in restaurants. I've been on both sides of that coin – the pre-kids evenings out which were quickly ruined by a horrid little uncontrolled brat, and restaurant outings trying to amuse my daughter for just two more minutes so I can finish eating while getting glares from the person who looks just like me ten years ago.

(Tip: Always, always ask for the check and a takeout box as soon as your entrée is served, so you can make a quick exit if need be. Trust me here. I have learned this through stressful, flop-sweaty experience. Also, spoons. My daughter loved them when she was an older baby and we'd ask our server to bring tons as soon as we sat down).

Chow's Table Manners has a post up right now on the issue of teaching table manners to kids. The suggestions are simple, doable, and seem to be to be eminently reasonable for both families and the people who eat with them to accept.

They cover three simple skills: eating dinner when you're at dinner, instead of playing video games, starting a food fight or otherwise screwing around; refraining from taking it as a personal threat to health and safety when offered a hated food ("no thank you" instead of "I hate broccoli!"); and not barking out orders but asking for things politely.

Now if I can just get the three year old to stop spitting things out when she doesn’t like them, we'll be golden.

Manners For Kids, So They'll Stand Out From Adults

Kelly Mills — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:03:00 GMT

All hail the revival of the charm school! Marsha Horne recently opened The Etiquette School of Frisco, where she specializes in teaching manners to kids. The classes often focus on dining etiquette, because "so many important things happen over a dining experience, including job interviews, business deals, marriage proposals, and even divorces." Teach the kids now that when your spouse uses your romantic dinner at a swanky restaurant to tell you he or she is in love with their coworker, it is very rude to hurl a hot bowl of soup in their face. Horne hopes to give kids the skills "that will take them from the backpack to the boardroom". I somehow don't foresee my kid losing a huge merger deal because she didn't know the proper way to butter a piece of bread, but perhaps I am selling her future short.

The school hopes to fill a void because "many parents don't have the time to teach their children the proper manners that are necessary." Now, I think there are manners and there are manners. When it comes to teaching kids how to use a napkin and how to chew with your mouth closed, we've managed to cover all that even with a two-working-parent household. It seems like if you actually eat a meal with your child, you've had opportunities to review the basic stuff that just involves consideration for others. But if we are talking about all those dining rules like how to use the finger bowl and all, that's another story. And I'd rather enroll my kid in soccer lessons, because if one parent at the school is right, and manners are "just not taught anymore," hey, my kid won't be the only one making the huge gaffe of misusing the salad fork.