Table Manners for Kids

Teaching and implementing table manners for your children goes a long way in helping them become refined, considerate and respectful social beings. 

This week we will be focusing on table manners from the book, Emily Post's Table Manners for Kids, authored by Peggy Post & Cindy Post Senning. This is a great teaching resource for parents and caregivers alike to teach about eating and dining etiquette. When I was growing up, there were certain rules everyone at our home followed during meal times. We learnt many of our manners from our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and by sitting around the table as a large/small social gathering. Now as a parent myself, I want to pass on those manners to my children. Let's discuss some of my perceptions about table manners and its’ impact on our children as a whole.

As a classroom teacher and parent, I am finding table manners to be lost and missing during mealtimes. Some may inquire about the cause of such a problem. Well, more and more parents nowadays are very busy and in many households both parents are working. Since parents take turns working, in order to divide the supervision duties of their children, they are finding less and less time to spend together as a family. Most of the time spent together as a family is during meal times or during other household activities such as discussions and conversations, TV time, helping around the home, etc. This time may become divided or become a cause for distractions, as parents and their children spend their times apart from each other. 

Kids are growing up in a fast-paced, ever-changing world. Kids have a lot of distractions such as cell phones, Ipods, computers, TV, etc. Often times we see that when these children bring their 'technologies' to the table, the idea of 'table manners' goes out the window. They may be focused on the 'screen' so much that they are unaware of how they are putting food in their mouths, or how they are eating/chewing their foods. Eating is a conscious effort and when you pay attention to what you eat, it goes a long way for your physical and mental health. I believe that is another cause of an alarming rate of obesity in our youth. According to the World Health Organization (2010), the number of overweight children under the age of five is estimated to be over 42 million around the globe and out of that number 35 million of these children are living in developing countries.

Overall, we have examined that any time spent together as a family, is the opportunity for parents to teach their children about following the ethics and morals of life. Kids learn from their first significant role models; their parents. That is why it is equally important for parents to pass on those manners and traditions to their children. So, I say let`s stand up to the challenge and put down those `screens` to spend more quality time together as a family during meal times.

Picture taken from Emily Post's Table Manners for Kids
By Peggy Post & Cindy Post Senning

What are some of your unique family manner traditions that you share around the breakfast, lunch or dinner table?

Thanks for reading!

Annie

References

Post, P., & Senning, C. P. (2009). Emily Post's Table Manners for Kids. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.

World Health Organization. (2010). Childhood overweight and obesity. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/childhood/en/