When should we start teaching table manners to the children?
I have a 2 years old who still enjoys play with the food and drinks and if I don’t watch I will have a very big mess on my floor. I work with 4 years old children who still eat very messy and act silly at meal times (not all of them though). So that is my question: at what age should we introduce real manners at meal time and expect the children to behave properly whit out pushing them to be little adults?
at the age when they can comprehend that you are taking their food away because they are not treating it properly. If you tell them to settle down at the table and don’t give them their food until they do, they will learn to settle down.
If they don’t do it right away don’t worry about it, they may not be hungry. but you must require appropriate behavior to be a condition of eating.
June 3rd, 2010 at 12:45 pm
About 3 years old.
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June 3rd, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Just start small by telling them to be careful and not to throw food and things. Just simple things first.
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June 3rd, 2010 at 2:04 pm
No my parents were teaching me manners before I could speak and when I see older children like 6 and 7 yr olds with terrible table manners I thank god my parents didnt let me behave that way lol Basic table manners arent forcing children to be adults it just teaches them new skills. =)
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June 3rd, 2010 at 2:19 pm
ill say 2 1/2 or 3
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June 3rd, 2010 at 2:29 pm
4 or 5
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June 3rd, 2010 at 2:49 pm
From the time they are old enough to sit at the table you should teach them proper manners. Maybe my daughter is an oddity, but she’s never played with her food and there is no way i would allow her to make a mess and spill things on the floor. From the time she was 4 she knew that a napkin should be placed on her lap when eating out. She is now 6 and the biggest problem i have with her is she always wiggles right off the chair.
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June 3rd, 2010 at 3:15 pm
around 1 and a half.
its never TOO early, especially if your set an example.
remember kids wont learn things theyre not exposed to.
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June 3rd, 2010 at 3:30 pm
You should start whenever neccesary. If somebody that’s like 3 or 4 that makes a big mess, you should just be like "hey, don’t do that. That’s not good manners" then explain the importance of manners and teach them overtime. There is no way to just drill it into their heads over one day. It takes time to develop good habits
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Best Answer plz!!!!!!
June 3rd, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Your question implies to you it is acceptable for good manners to be absent at some time. I doubt then if you know or ever will be able to teach them good manners, which you should have been doing from day one.
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June 3rd, 2010 at 3:49 pm
The problem is that you are raising the children and not the parents… small children learn by example… therefore, you may be able to help the other children a little– but your own child will follow your example best…
Start now with little steps and add more as you go along… your child will get the hang of it… and the other children may also
God Bless,
Ms S
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June 3rd, 2010 at 4:26 pm
I think the best time is when they start to know what’s right and wrong – up to a certain age they don’t know that dropping food on the floor is wrong, or putting their hand in the food or tipping the plate up, but there comes a time when they do understand and when they remember you’ve told them not to. This age is different for all kids but I would say somewhere between 2 and 3 yrs. DEFINITELY by 3!!!
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June 3rd, 2010 at 5:07 pm
I would start from the time they get in a high chair, Just simpley telling them to be carefull and not make a mess.
Don’t punish him/her till there older but if they grow up knowing right and wrong they will learn alot faster later on.
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June 3rd, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Table manners are learned from parents.
"Playing with food" shouldn’t be an option.
"Being little adults" doesn’t come into it… children are not animals, you don’t pick an age to start "training" them, you influence their sensibilities from birth.
I often find myself leaving restaurants earlier than I planned, nauseated by the appalling table manners of some adult patrons.
Children should grow up being told from the start what’s expected of them and parents who fail to do this condemn their kids to some atrociously embarrassing, even hurtful episodes, when they first start to go out with their peers…
I will never forget a girl at High School, who had a real issue with her lack of social skills… when we were planning a trip to the beach, one of the boys said, aloud and in front of her "don’t invite G, she eats like a pig and I don’t want my new g/f to feel sick".
We all berated him to one voice, but it was too late, G was hurt and ran off home in tears, at 16 there simply was nothing we could say to console her, because she knew what P had said was true… she ate like an animal and no-one wanted to sit with her at mealtimes.
Don’t let your children grow up like her and expect that some day, magically, they’ll somehow understand why they should learn what "you" should be teaching them so it becomes second nature.
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A good upbringing
June 3rd, 2010 at 5:31 pm
at the age when they can comprehend that you are taking their food away because they are not treating it properly. If you tell them to settle down at the table and don’t give them their food until they do, they will learn to settle down.
If they don’t do it right away don’t worry about it, they may not be hungry. but you must require appropriate behavior to be a condition of eating.
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June 3rd, 2010 at 6:20 pm
My daughter is 3 and I’m started to get her to have better table manners. In my opinion I would think that it would be best before they start school.
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