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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have 3 & 5 year old boys and they are total slobs at the table.  A couple weeks ago, I decided I'd had enough!

I am trying a sticker chart with the following rules:

-- Say please and thank you
-- Chew with your mouth closed
-- Help set the table
-- Help clear the table
-- All food stays on the table (they don't throw food, but SO much seems to drop on the floor because they're not eating over their plates or whatever.)
-- And no tattling, so they don't try to sell each other out for breaking the rules during dinner

Honestly it's been great.  I remind them of all the rules before dinner.  The 5 yo is doing better than the 3 yo but that is to be expected.
[/quote]

This is wonderful!

I direct a preschool and our teachers in our 4s/5s room one spring (so most kids 5 years old, youngest 41/2 years old) noticed they were sweeping up so much food and plastic wrappers off the floor, and scrubbing the tables - it looked like a 2s room after lunch!  So they measured and weighed what came off the floor one day with the children, then challenged them to be neater.  They discussed what that meant: sitting straight at the table, feet on the floor when you eat.  Being careful with your wrapper and putting it in the trash can rather than dropping it wherever.  Eating and chewing, not pushing food into their mouths.  And so forth.  And then they said, we are going to be measuring the stuff on the floor each day for a month.  If you can get it down to just a little bit (they defined it) then we'll have a pajama and make your own pizza party!

Well, darn but those kids got good at sitting straight, chewing with mouths full, putting trash in garbage can, etc.  And they earned their pizza party a week early!  But of course, 3 weeks into the project the good habits were ingrained and they never were messy again.

So good for you - 5 year olds are more capable, and your 3 year old will be more capable by the time he is 5 years old because of the 2 years of practice.

My nephew, at 16 years old, still has the WORST table manners.  Teach your children young, they don't learn it by osmosis.  I'll never forget watching a 12 year old eating pasta with his fingers, dipping pancakes in syrup with fingers, eating with his mouth full, etc.  And leaving drips etc all over table cloths, placemats, tables, etc.  YUCK!  But my sister just never taught him.   {and before anyone starts, NO he doesn't have any special needs, just never been taught}[/quote]

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