Holiday Guests: Teaching Your Kids Proper Etiquette

Holiday Guests: Teaching Your Kids Proper Etiquette - as part of the expert series by GeoBeats. Now over the holidays, you might have people come to your home for dinner. They might even spend the night. So here are a few tips to help your children have wonderful manners so that you have a great time and so do your guests. Now, the first thing that you want to talk to your children about, is to help out. There is going to be a lot of people around and there are some things that your children can do to make things easier. For example, they could be in charge of setting the table, or taking out the trash, or walking the dog. There is a lot of things that they can do. Also, you might want to tell them upfront if they are going to be sharing their room or even their bed with their little cousin. That way, when the guests come, they do not get grouchy in front of the company. Now young children have to be reminded that they are going to need to share their toys, if there is going to be young guests coming, because that sometimes can be very hard. Now also, one thing would be great, that you do not have to worry about is if your children could keep their room clean, at least while the company is there. So, maybe give them a little incentive, that if you do not have to remind them to clean their room, that they maybe get some type of small reward. Now one of the big important things that you are going to want to talk to your children about before the company comes, is table manners so that they feel comfortable and the guests feel comfortable during a meal. So here are some simple things to remind them. When they sit down to a table, they need to sit up straight and put their feet in front of them, and sit on their bump, just sitting up like this. Then they will take their napkin, they will open it up, and they will gently fold it on their lap, and then they need to wait until everybody at the table is seated before they begin to eat. Then, when they look at the silverware on the table, they start to eat using the silverware from the outside working in towards the plate. So for example, in this table setting, you will see that we have a smaller fork which is the salad fork, and if a salad is served before the meal, this is the fork that is used. Now on the outside here, we have a soup spoon, and so if soup is served before a meal, this is the spoon that they will use. Then closest to the inside, you have the fork and the knife, which are the main course fork and knife. Then the bread plate is to the left and their glass is to the right. Now a way that you can remember to teach your children as well, is that if they make a lowercase "b" and "d" with their fingers, and they go like this, you could remember, "b" is for bread plate on the left, and "d" is for drink on your right. And that is especially helpful when you have lots of peoples' table setting all close together. Then at the top of the plate, typically, is where the dessert spoon and fork will go and that will be used at the end of the meal. So, once they get the basic of the table setting down and which silverware to use, also remind them that they need to keep their elbows off the table. If they are eating American style, to keep the hand they are not eating with in their lap, chew with their mouth closed, to hold their fork like a pencil and not like a hammer and to eat quietly without a lot of chewing noises. Then at the very end of the meal, they are going to want to ask if they could please be excused before they leave. So these are a couple of few things that you can teach your children over the holidays with everyone having an enjoyable experience.