The Manners Pig: How did you teach your child(ren) table manners?
To teach our daughter table manners, I introduced the Manners Pig. It was a small, funny, chubby pig figurine with a red bandanna tied around its neck, lying with propped elbows, gleefully gobbling corn on the cob.
"If you catch someone using bad table manners- an elbow on the table or chewing with their mouth open - they get the Manners Pig in front of them," I said.
So Claire, 3, didn't feel picked on, Terry and I deliberately made mistakes. Claire loved catching us and depositing the pig in front of us. Friends loved it, too.
Intense and strong-willed like me, Claire resisted my instructions. She never let me teach her to swim. Instead she wanted to play. Thanks to YMCA swim lessons, she became an excellent swimmer.
Of course, Claire didn't stop shoveling her food until age 16 when she ate at her friend's house. The three of us were at a Mother's Day brunch. Claire, 13, was chugging chocolate milk.
"Claire, you might consider putting your napkin on your lap," I said dryly. Without looking at me, Claire lowered the glass one inch.
"Back off," she said and continued drinking. Glug, glug. Then she put the napkin on her lap.
I laughed.
When Claire was born, I realized I was her role model at all times. Now that she's 30, I'm surprised by how much she learned from me. She was paying attention, after all.
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7 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Setting a good example is the greatest power we have, nothing could be worse than saying one thing and doing something else. Not only is the lesson undermined by a bad example, but the example that is set is that it is OK to be insincere, which is perhaps the worst thing that you can teach.
In have no experience of childcare, but I sometime wonder if it would ever be possible, that on a bigger scale, institutions like governments would learn that their greatest power is in example. That no amount of legislation will ever improve a nations life one half so much, as being insincere, shallow, conflict hungry and greedy harms it.
Fernapple
Level 9
May 4, 2020
1
As they see others ,they will(because of innate social concience- that YOU instilled) pick up cues.
In my 20's I attended weddings banquets- this after being in the military mess halls and construction job sites. The
emphasis on decorum/ not refuel the engine. Being told as a child that I could eat as much as I wanted $$$just DO NOT WASTE ,ANYTHING$$$. Hence I ate slowly ; as opposed to
wolfing my food.NOTE this is bad for digestion and a waste
because the body can handle only so much at once( Doctors say steady smaller portions throughout the day).Slow eating releases digestive juices in saliva!
I still prefer a slow meal(2or 3 courses) becouse of the HUMAN interaction . Folks seem to be more honest and forthright when eating together. At work we are presented with food -free lunch- but you have 10to 15 minutes to EAT.
NEEDLESS TO SAY it is an UNFAIR presentation,,,often going to the breakroom and searching the empty boxes for a missed slice**so what I pack lunch. Point being if I thought I would only live on what was offered at work ????
The temptation to be FIRST & MOST would arise. No
I maintain the " gastank" of this body; I therefore am not focused on the FOOD (quantity OR quality) ,,,but on sharing
and learning from the other folks I dine with.The banquet hall is different from the cafeteria OR a picnic, just so how folks interact in SETTINGS varies under the circumstanses.
PS
I was renound for bringing " SpecialCHOCOLATES " to rich gatherings( even as I took none ) because of bringing
joy to others,,,I still do - they may be skittles but happiness is contagious- selfishness is lonely.
BBJong
Level 7
May 3, 2020
2
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