So my latest "what do I do" entry is this -
How do you teach your kids dinner manners without repeating yourself 15 times per BITE? We are trying to foster dinner time conversation and making it a nice time to digest, well, the food and also each other's days. Sounds ideal doesn't it? Problem is- it's turning out to be just that- an IDEA- and not a reality. Ok- I admit- I am an idealist and my ideas are sometimes (ok, Brad, USUALLY) way out there- but stay with me here.
So our "tell me about your day" conversations are spent saying "Jaedon, keep your mouth closed.", "Jaedon, close your lips. ", "Jaedon, can you please chew with your mouth closed", "Dearest offspring, I would appreciate it ever so much if you could kindly remember to hide the parital masticated food behind the surface of your beautifully shaped lips." (ok so I haven't tried that one yet ;)
And of course there's always the keeping your fork to yourself, sit down,please don't lick the serving spoon, turn around in the chair, Four on the Floor, sit down, hands off your brothers highchair tray, please keep your behind in the seat!.. etc...
but mostly I need some pointers on teaching them to continuously chew with their mouth closed!
Any ideas?
3 comments:
Oh girl, I am so with you! If you get any good ideas, please pass them along! A few ideas we try...we incorporated manners into her Princess sticker chart. If she eats with good manners, she gets that much closer to picking out of our prize bag. If we are eating at the table and she is eating like an elephant..:), we try to remember to give her only 1 reminder about eating with manners. After that, she is excused from the table and she can come back and eat ALONE when everyone else is done. This seems to work because she hates being alone! If that doesn't work, than she gets a spank and is done eating and can have her food for snack later. I know what you mean, it seems like every other thing we are telling them at the table is how to eat!!!
This just came to me...maybe you could have a bag of candy at the table, when you see him having a good manner, give him a piece of candy in a bowl. After the meal is over, he can eat whatever candy is in the bowl. You could use 1 smartie or whatever he likes so that he doesn't have like 10 pieces of candy by the end of the meal! This would be more of an instant reward which he might need for a while.
Hope that helps and we are continually working on this too!
You are hilarious!!!
I love reading your musings!
Since everything that I would suggest has been listed in the previous comment (seeing as that it's from my wife and parenting partner, that makes sense!), I'll leave it at that.
My Dad didn't tolerate any messing around at the table, particularly because that was some of the only family time he had with us due to his working multiple jobs at once.
Here's something that Beckyg forgot to write...at times, we try to engage Adrianna in a conversation so that she feels like she is part of the family instead of just listening...or instead of being naughty for attention. Also, I've noticed that when dinner is ready as soon as I walk in the door (the typical American Husband's Dream), our precious daughter is less-well behaved during that prompt meal because there isn't any focus time on her. However, if there is a few minutes that I can devote to Adrianna before we sit to eat, sometimes that works better.
Someday, I'm going to invent a cure for selfishness and apathy..then I can retire!
I personally think the English of the middle ages had a wonderful idea when they hired nannies who fed their children in the nursery while the adults dined in the dining room. (just kidding)
I have an idea that might preserve sanity -- we haven't tried it yet since right now life is a little hectic at our house...but once the baby boys get a little older I think we are going to have one night of the week when we feed the children at dinner time and the adults will have a snack. Then we will have dinner alone after they are tucked in bed. My friend and her hubby do this ... then they take that occasional opportunity to order take out or something special and enjoy a meal without having to remind anyone about manners.
OK -- what am I doing on the internet when everyone is asleep and I could be taking the world's longest hot shower....gotta run...
JR
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