Is your kid giving you a hard time at the dining table?
Dreading another embarrassing night at a restaurant? It’s never too early to teach your child table manners. Here’s how you can go about it:
- Begin With Table Setting: Ask your child to help you set the table. Children will learn so much just by setting the crockery & other paraphernalia, they learn the purpose of a spoon or a fork. They also learn the importance of keeping the table tidy.
- Get Them To Join You At The Table: TV, phones & other gadgets generally distract children and keep them from joining the family at the table. Get them to join you at the table, it’s the only way you can get them to improve their dining etiquettes.
- Minding Toddlers & Preschoolers: Make eating a fun activity. Come up with some games while feeding your child, it keeps them hooked. They’ll do things like throwing food, banging on the plate etc to gain attention, all you need to do is talk to them politely, Keep them engaged and they’ll refrain from such things. You may have to continuously engage and talk to them which could get exhausting, but it is the best way to make dining a peaceful experience. Apart from setting meal times right, you can do the following things you can teach your toddlers:
-To sit right, without wriggling, squirming
-To wait for everyone to arrive at the table
-To use napkins to wipe
-To take small bites & chew properly
- Explain Older Kids Certain Etiquettes: Based on the age group, you can have a small talk about the rights & wrongs at the dining table. Things like cleaning the table before and after meals, eating with one hand, not using the same eating hand to serve, to avoid wasting food by explaining to them how fortunate they are to get food or the value of food.
It can get tough to explain table manners and remind children about them especially when they’re hungry and tired but keep at it, in the long run, your children will be grateful to you!