Progress on moving to the DR Table for lunch...

One of the many things I love about Montessori Traditions is "Family Style Dining". I've been wanting to incorporate this method of dining for at least our Day Care Lunch. However, we are a much younger group of children than Montessori methods usually apply to, so we will need to develop a little "higher than average" level of table manners before we can move into the Dining Room.

Finally, I have all the dining furniture my dining room can HOLD. My husband will be glad to read this part of the blog. Well, except for the part where we actually have a little TOO MUCH furniture and need to find a spot to move a few pieces to - otherwise cleaning up after the kids will just be too difficult.

Last weekend we got all new Toddler Dinnerware (plate, milk cup, water cup, and silverware for each kid) and we have been working extra hard this week on using good manners at the table. Having silverware that fits in your hands is a bigger help than I had previously thought. Here is some of what we are learning:

1. Everyone has their own Eating Bubble. Your bottoms need to be on the bench, your feet toward (or touching if you can) the floor. Your hips should not touch the person next to you, and you do not reach into another friend's Eating Bubble - even if they still have grapes left and yours are gone. It helps when Mrs. Marty sits with you at the table during snack to remind you about this crazy invisible bubble concept.
2. The "all done" signal does not include: Dumping your meal remains from your plate in front of you, shredding your food into tiny bits (or otherwise playing with your food), or dropping bits of food onto the floors. This is not easy to learn. Having to pick-up scattered and dropped food from your area or the floor helps you remember this. We say or sign "all done" when we are finished - its just good manners.
3. There are 2-3 at the picnic table and 2-3 in high chairs right now. Everyone must wait their turn to be cleaned up and excused from the table or to be cleaned up and helped down from their high chair. Patience is a Virtue - but is really difficult for young'uns to learn. But this group of kids is exceptional and for the most part are very patient.
4. Silverware is a Privilege and not a Right. Sort of like driving for big people. You mess up and you may lose your silverware for the rest of your meal. You only get 1 warning, and there is no Diversion Program you qualify for. We do not poke friends/table tops/cabinets/or ourselves with silverware. If you are advanced enough to sit at the Picnic Table, your silverware is not meant to go into/out-of the umbrella hole (that is really germy and considered "playing" at the table).
5. Some foods are MEANT for eating with our hands - like bread, bananas, and tater tots - we don't use silverware on these type things. It's okay NOT to use silverware, if you can do it without making a terrible mess. Hey, this is accepted in many cultures, they are kids, and everybody knows that eating with your fingers makes the food taste better.
6. Under no circumstances do we pound or slap the table tops in unison to try and make Mrs. Marty move faster. This is not a prison. "There are 5-6 of you and only one of me" I say upon the commencment of pounding as I stand in the middle of the general viewing area NOT WORKING on getting the plates distributed. If you pound, I stop - period. I also like to say this phrase upon discovery of an SPI (Sychronized Pooping Incident). And in that situation I don't stand firm in one spot, but rather scurry - but that is a whole other post (or not).

This may seem all to much for such little people. But as long you temper the training with a TON of love, praise, a little humor, and a big smile it really isn't too much for them to handle. And how do I know if I'm not using enough love, praise, humor, or smiling enough? They aren't happily eating their food! WE have come a long way in just a few weeks. Every day gets better and better.

Breakfast & Lunch is a little divided as far as sitting privileges, but Snacks are together at the picnic table (to help the littler ones with the Eating Bubble Thing).

I'm confident that they will be ready for the dining room in a few weeks. And that in a few months, when out to eat some where with their family, someone is going to comment on their INCREDIBLE table manners!

Until next time - CHOW. ; )