Manners Matter!

Sometime in May Josh, the girls and I went out to dinner. As we were eating I looked over at Elizabeth who was sitting with her legs up on the table and chewing with her mouth open. I was shocked that my oldest child had such appalling manners! Later I was talking with my mom and she said something that really made me think. She told me that just because I know etiquette doesn't mean that my child does...she asked me have you taught her? I honestly thought that I had taught her better but it was evident that I hadn't. So I thought I would do what my mom would do...I decided to have a manners class during the summer. Now I know myself and I know that I needed a reason to actually have follow through and have the class more then once. So I asked a few of my friends if they would mind if I taught their children in a manners class. They said yes and thus begun my teaching career. I had five students, I wanted to keep it small enough that I could still have control over all these kids. We had 2 boys and 3 girls. I liked the idea of having mixed genders so that they learned how to act with each other. The ages were from 7 to 8 years old. My plan was that if Elizabeth could sit in a class with other kids her age that maybe she would listen! The class was an hour a week for six weeks. These are the invites to my class. The grey ones were for the boys and the pink for the girls.We went over everything like using our magic words: Please, Thank you, Excuse Me, and I'm Sorry. Also Thank you notes, What is the difference between Manners and Etiquette, Interacting with Adults, kids, and with our parents, bathroom etiquette, personal grooming and ended with Table Manners. At the end of the six weeks I planned to have a formal dinner for the kids in my class and their parents to show the parents what their kids have learned. We had the dinner last Saturday and it went really well. I magically fit everyone at a table and cooked a meal for them. It was so fun to listen to the kids teach their parents what fork to use and how to act. We sat at two tables to fit everyone. These are my tables and the place settings. My sister Celeste helped me with the place settings, she is so creative. We had appetizers first while we waited for everyone to come. The Godfrey's were on Godfrey time! (Translation: They were late!)Then we sat down for our meal. The kids helped to pick out what they wanted to eat. They picked a cauliflower soup, and we had tri-tip, glazed carrots with garlic mashed potatoes. We ended the meal with a brownie sundae.
Even though I don't really know how much information my own child got out of it (last night at dinner I would have guessed non!) but I am really glad I did this. I have already heard back from a few of the parents that their child has shown good manners that somewhat surprised them! Thus ends my teaching career!