Kids & Table Manners | Teach Your Kids Good Table Manners | The Kids Coach

Table Manners

July 28, 2010 | My Blog, The Kids Coach | Naomi Richards | 6 Comments

For about three or four years now we have had rules for mealtimes at the dinner table. The number of rules drawn up was very long since I had asked the children what they thought the rules should be. With over twenty rules we managed to weedle out the ‘you have to eat all your peas’ and ‘you cant stand on your head at the table’ and ended up with the list below. There are only 5 and for us that is enough for now.

1. No talking when you are eating (mouth full)

2. Sit nicely on your chair

3. You have to ask to leave the table

4. You have to wait for everyone to eat their main course before getting dessert

5. Use your cutlery

What are the rules in your house for mealtimes?

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6 Comments for this entry

Lottie
July 28th, 2010 on 5:24 pm

Ours are exactly the same as yours with one addition, no dessert unless all of the main meal has been eaten. This is because minecare terrible for leaving their food and whinging about eating it. This rule has helped enormously!
Louisa
July 28th, 2010 on 5:27 pm

I have the exact same rules for my two with the addition of no toys at the table either. I sometimes think I am too strict (the youngest is only 2) however the four of us like going out to eat and I am always so proud of my girls’ table manners when we do it is a pleasurable outing for all of us!
wwwthek
July 28th, 2010 on 5:50 pm

These are great principles and 5 fundamental elements that both myself and my brother were taught growing up along with “not putting our elbows on the table!” It is something as a parent I am now instilling in my 2 year old.
carol adams-kirkham
July 28th, 2010 on 7:33 pm

Ours are very similar but in addition we include a no technology rule as part of manners and the house phone is not answered during dinner as it is a time for talking to each other.

We also have a rule that any new food has to be tried once without fuss if disliked then it won’t be offered again.
Nat
July 29th, 2010 on 6:48 am

Eat as much as you want. I encourage them to eat more of something if left untouched but that rarely happens!

Dinner time – ask about everyones day and what you did.

Use your manners like your number 1

Ask to leave the table

Don’t play with your food

In our family we share a lot of our food, not sure this is a normal thing but we often eat indian and chinese and mexican and japanese. We all sit around sharing our food, we give them bites of our food and they offer us theirs. We usually decline but it means the sharing aspect is there, it creates a very social meal time!
Grace Marshall
July 29th, 2010 on 1:16 pm

We have the “no dessert if you haven’t eaten enough of your main meal” rule, and we give our son lots of encouragement when he tries something new (our daughter on the other hand will try most things, even if not food!) I’m considering introducing a rule of staying at the table until everybody’s finished, as our daughter has recently started getting very restless as soon as her older brother leaves the table.