Table Manners

Your children will have a decided advantage in the real world if they are comfortable and confident with their table manners. Table manners are another way that people judge others, and we don't want our children to look as though they have never received any instruction.

Only babies eat with their fingers. Teach your child where his/her utensils go in a place setting and what they are used for.

Use paper or cloth napkins at every meal and teach your kids how to use them (instead of their sleeve). And remind them to place their napkins in their laps.
 
Kids need to learn that smacking lips, sniffing, burping and loud crunching are inappropriate at the dinner table.
 
Mashed potatoes are eaten with a fork (not a spoon), a knife is for cutting (not shoveling peas in their mouth), and they should never lick their utensils (reserve licking for an ice-cream cone).
 
The left hand should be kept in their lap and the right hand used to eat with (unless they are left-handed, of course). Elbows should never be o­n the table.
 
"See Food." A good rule of thumb: o­nce food is in your mouth, no o­ne should ever have to see it again. As our mothers told us, "Don't talk with food in your mouth."