One of the reasons I love sitting down at the table together for a meal is the opportunity to teach and practice table manners. We eat breakfast as we are ready in the morning, and lunch is fairly casual with Mom setting out the leftovers on the counter, having a blessing on the food with everyone, and then each person choosing and warming his own lunch. The kids often sit at the table with a book and read while they eat lunch. But dinnertime is different.
At dinnertime we set the table with plates, cups, and silverware all in their proper places. We all come to the table together and have our family prayer and blessing on the food. We take our seats and then pass the serving bowls around the table. Sometimes I just serve the food, especially if it is a pot of hot soup. But I think there are lessons to be learned by passing the food around the table and letting each person serve himself.
Children learn to be patient and wait their turn for the food to get to them. Children learn to try a little of everything that comes around. (Although I am understanding about occasional food "hates" like Emily's absolute dislike for mushrooms. I still encourage her to try at least one little piece from the stir fry as it comes around.) Children learn to gauge how hungry they are and not to take too much on their first serving. They learn that they can ask politely for more when they finish their first portion. Children learn to think of others as they take the food from the bowl. If a child is the first one to take the roasted red potatoes, shiny with olive oil and fresh garlic (a family favorite) he must not take so many that there will not be enough for others to have some. And finally, they learn to dish their food carefully, so that they do not spill all over the table as they lift the spoon from the serving bowl to their own plates……..OR NOT!!!
Today, as I was reminding on of the younger children to please spoon his salad carefully from the serving bowl, my 14 year old, in the midst of taking his own salad, exploded it across half the table. Who knows how it happened? Maybe it was because the salad spoons were in the dishwasher and we were using makeshift utensils in the salad bowl. This was totally true. Maybe it was because he was starving because 14 year old boys are always starving after three hours of church. This was true as well. But it was funny nevertheless. Just as I was giving my mini "manners" lecture, manners and decorum completely left our table. We all laughed and laughed and then cleaned up carrot shreds throughout the meal.
Note: this post was made with the complete permission of Jacob, the 14 year old, starving, salad spewing, culprit!
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