This afternoon, as I set the table for lunch I noticed that all our large plates were dirty. Being too lazy to hand wash them, I put out a bowl for the pasta, a smaller bowl for the salad, and small plates for the bread. Chuckling to myself about all the crockery, I flippantly apologized to Cody and Carter for the singular fork with which to eat our meal – not a salad fork in sight.
On point, and in the overly dramatic fashion in which our family rolls, Cody quickly thrust his hands up to his neck and loudly gasped. Carter immediately followed suit. Not to be left out, I gasped as I flourished our multi-purpose forks.
“Who do you think your mother is?” I asked, “The Queen of England?”
Carter finished his pasta and for some unknown reason cleared his spot before coming back to eat his salad. Realizing he already put his fork in the sink, he got another.
“Oh, getting yourself a salad fork?” I asked.
This caused Cody to get up and correct my fork folly.
Husband and I laughed and wondered aloud if this was indeed a win in the parenting department of table manners. But then we watched Carter walk back into the kitchen wearing nothing but a pair of underwear.
Our longest standing rule in the realm of table manners is that one must, in the very least, have on a pair of underwear to join us at the table.
Perhaps we have not yet quite mastered the art of fine dining.
Shoes On The Wrong Feet 
ahahahah! I admit it: in my house, we only have one type of fork! but we have the same rule about underwear ahaha
We have all sorts of forks, a set of silverware we got for a wedding gift ages ago. The boys are really the ones this rule was put in place for, as Husband and I are typically clothed.
I’ve heard of casual Friday, but that’s taking things a little too far.
Ha! This rule was designed when our boys were little and would run around naked a lot. We figured we needed to set some limitations.
I love this! Real family dinners.
Everyday! With everyone working/schooling from home, we actually eat all three meals together as a family.
That is beyond wonderful. Are you ready? A study was done years ago of National Merit Scholars. Surely there was a common denominator, like class president, or captain of a sports team. There was only one. ONE. Children who had dinner with their family at least four times a week. That was it! Yet, it makes perfect sense. All the language, interaction, in-depth discussions over the years have a profound impact. You’re on a great path, Shoes.
Haha! Well, you know, it’s hot these days… 🙂
Indeed.
What I did not include in this post, was that I jokingly said that I should take my white shirt off to eat the very red pasta sauce. The boys were horrified at the idea.
Hahaha!