Everyday at dinner time, I have so many willing hands to help. My wonderful, loving, and ever-so-helpful husband is always a step ahead of me, anticipating the needs of our daughters and myself. The girls are setting the table, while he pours everyone a drink, and I put the final touches on our dinner. We all sit down to the table and give thanks to the Lord for our meal with bowed heads and a perfect little prayer, recited by one of my blue-eyed princesses. Then we all politely take turns fixing our plates, listen to each other as we talk about our day, and, of course, use every manner ever written. Everyone compliments me on the amazingly delicious meal I have prepared. All of this is done effortlessly, without spilling a crumb of food, or drop of drink.
And then I wake up.
Well, I wasn’t lying when I said that I have blue-eyed princesses! Three, to be precise! Give me some credit there!
I dream of a day when no one complains about what’s for dinner. I would love to not hear someone ask for something else from the refrigerator with a whole meal laid out in front of them. It would be a miracle if we could get through dinner without the echoes of a burp reverberating through the house. Keeping the two-year-old in her seat throughout the entire meal would be a HUGE accomplishment! A simple, ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ would probably make me pass out. Someone offering to help clean up after? HA! Fat chance! I force my poor kids to clean up after dinner. Manual labor builds character. They have to rotate who does which ‘after dinner’ chore, and you would think they were driving railroad spikes into the ground. No, sweeping is NOT the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do, child!
I’m sure this is every parent’s dream! I think I’m going to have to get creative when it comes to teaching table manners. How do you teach your kids to exhibit good table manners?
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