Teaching Good Table Manners

With our 3 boys we make teaching excellent table manners a priority, and our philosophy is that it is never too early to start. Take for instance these pictures taken of Small at our weekly Sunday lunch at Dickey's BBQ.


In this picture, Small has a french fry hanging out of his mouth. We encourage this, as eating french fries without the use of hands keeps him from getting greasy hands.


In this picture, Small has a piece of a dinner roll hanging out of his mouth. We encourage this, as eating dinner rolls without the use of hands keeps him from getting....dinner....rolly....hands.



In this picture, Small is politely signing "please" as I'm feeding him ice cream. Kim tried to teach him to sign please rather than screaming at us, and one time when he seemed to finally get it right, she raised her hands and said "Yay!!". From that point onward Small raises his hands when we tell him to say "Please!" instead of screaming for something :-)

Actually it was one of our more pleasant outings at Dickey's, as Small has been known to send his food flying if he's not getting what he wants, and that didn't happen this week! This is partly due to the fact that Kim and I have learned to recognize the look he sometimes gets in his eyes that we now know means "Target acquired - ready to launch!" - and we have managed to remove all potential projectiles from his reach. Sometimes his projectile foodstuffs have landed on fellow diners. There's actually another regular to that restaurant who we have seen there several times who Small actually has hit twice - on different Sundays! Say what you will about his manners, but he has good aim!