... I believe they are important. I'm not talking about using the correct knife, or passing the port in the correct direction, that's more snobbery than manners.
But not chewing with your mouth open, actually using a knife and fork rather than fingers, those manners are important to me.
And, now that I think about it, I can't think of a young person, by young I mean under 15, who I'd share a table with willingly, or without feeling compelled due some obligation or other. It's actually rather unpleasant, the open-mouthed chewing, the not sitting in a chair, the mangling food with hands.
I recall my mum being quite fierce about table manners, and I'm glad of it.
Sunday, October 4
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5 comments:
Amen to that! I'd add that I think cell phones have no place at table and I think it's rude to answer phones and/or text while one is with others. It won't kill "the yoot" to wait a few hours to contact their friends. But then, I'm a stuffy old poop, as you know.
I join you in stuffy old poopdom then, I hate the mobile telephone and have been known to walk away if someone pays more attention to their technology than me, the actual live person sitting/standing in front of them.
Well you are more than welcome to dine at our table anytime! I'm a stickler for table manners, and woe-betide my children if they forget all that they've been taught!
Not that they're perfect.... but you would NEVER catch them eating with their mouth open, talking with their mouth full or waving their cutlery in the air.
Now... if only I could teach them to pick up their clothes......
If parents don't teach good table manners to their children, they are putting them at a disadvantage. They actually have classes where adults, who realize they need assistance, can go to learn all sorts of etiquette, including table manners.
Fe, I'm glad of it. I know some parents do, of course, but so many don't. Possibly because they don't have any themselves. The sight of a whole family eating with their hands, chewing with their open mouths, it turns you off your lunch.
Lee, I worry there's a whole generation or generations out there that have never eaten with a knife & fork or at a table. I hear some schools are teaching "life skills" that include how to use basic table tools, because it's not taught at home.
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