Teaching Etiquette at Restaurants
I read a good article the other day on keeping children polite in restaurants.
It suggests that the family eat dinner as if they are in a restaurant nothing major - but just use the nice napkins, light a candle, put on some nice music. The phone should be left off the hook and the TV should be nowhere in sight. I know it sounds a lot easier said than done, and of course you wont' be doing this with a 6 month old..but as they get older and are seated on their own at the table, they should be learning that it's a time to listen to people's stories, be polite with food, wait until everybody is done before getting up, and so on.
I thought this was interesting and I really hope to implement it in our home. As it is now, my husband and I eat like this every night and of course I anticipate that to change drastically when the baby comes, but I hope to keep it going when she gets older.
My BIL brings his boys to restaurants when we all go out for family dinners, and it's hell on wheels. My SIL comes packed with these plastic cases of everything from crayons and coloring books (but like A LOT of them) to PLAY DOH. I am sorry - I don't want Playdoh in my face while I am eating at a really nice Italian restaurant in NYC. There should be no reason for playdoh. I mean - the whole shebang too - like the plastic knife, the rolling pin, the molds...it's like freaking playskool right next to you. (I personally have a playdoh smell problem but that is besides the fact). Of course it gets pushed into the tablecloth...I just think it's inappropriate and I know it starts in the home. Sitting quietly with a coloring book - fine...but making playdoh pizza and handing slices to everybody is just too much.
You can all razz me when you see me in a nice place in a couple of years when my little one is painting on the walls with ketchup and I am pretending to not see it...but for now....that really drives me NUTS!!!!
It suggests that the family eat dinner as if they are in a restaurant nothing major - but just use the nice napkins, light a candle, put on some nice music. The phone should be left off the hook and the TV should be nowhere in sight. I know it sounds a lot easier said than done, and of course you wont' be doing this with a 6 month old..but as they get older and are seated on their own at the table, they should be learning that it's a time to listen to people's stories, be polite with food, wait until everybody is done before getting up, and so on.
I thought this was interesting and I really hope to implement it in our home. As it is now, my husband and I eat like this every night and of course I anticipate that to change drastically when the baby comes, but I hope to keep it going when she gets older.
My BIL brings his boys to restaurants when we all go out for family dinners, and it's hell on wheels. My SIL comes packed with these plastic cases of everything from crayons and coloring books (but like A LOT of them) to PLAY DOH. I am sorry - I don't want Playdoh in my face while I am eating at a really nice Italian restaurant in NYC. There should be no reason for playdoh. I mean - the whole shebang too - like the plastic knife, the rolling pin, the molds...it's like freaking playskool right next to you. (I personally have a playdoh smell problem but that is besides the fact). Of course it gets pushed into the tablecloth...I just think it's inappropriate and I know it starts in the home. Sitting quietly with a coloring book - fine...but making playdoh pizza and handing slices to everybody is just too much.
You can all razz me when you see me in a nice place in a couple of years when my little one is painting on the walls with ketchup and I am pretending to not see it...but for now....that really drives me NUTS!!!!
