I've spent many years teaching my children table manners, and for the most part, they get it. We've had to make some adjustments for specific disabilities, but I can say that most of the time they chew with their mouths closed, they know the difference between a fork and a knife, and they've learned what a napkin is for.
I know that for some table manners may not seem like a big thing when you've got a child with significant disbilities. But it is something that is important to me, and I believe will be important to my children in the future.
This weekend, it was time to start stepping things up. I decided that since they had done a good job with the basics, we would start working on "tablecloth manners." So I bought a washable tablecloth and off we went.
In my mind, we would start to concentrate on how to get into one's chair without pulling the tablecloth off the table, how to use real glass glasses, how to pass food from left to right, how to tell the difference between a salad fork and a dinner fork, and what to do with one's napkin at the end of the meal. From there, we would work on more formal table settings and more polished manners.
Sounds good, right?
Well hopefully we will get there one day, but for starters, I washed my new tablecloth three times in two days! It's a good thing I don't make them dress up for dinner :)
Totally unrelated to this specific post, but another blog post I though you'd appreciate. You do a lot of good in this world, and you keep doing it, even when people keep putting you down. you are appreciated for it!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jimchines.com/2012/03/the-wolves-the-pig-and-the-retarded-bunny/
Heather, thank you so much for the link. I'm going to share it with everyone that I can!!
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