Dinner Time Blues

I really don't want to send my children out into the world with no manners.  However, I feel like we sometimes walk a fine line of appropriateness when it comes to eating at a table.  I am continually asking them to sit up and move their elbows off the table.  Occasionally I remind them eat more slowly or please not to talk with their mouths full.  (Maybe since that is only occasionally, I can acknowledge the progress.)  I think of them as missionaries or on dates, and I want them to represent themselves well.  My parents were good about encouraging good table manners.  I am hoping we are not a lost cause!

On a lighter note...teens are pretty fun.  Parker did not want to put on a shirt for dinner but knew he needed to.  He headed into the laundry room, which is right off the kitchen, to grab one but had no luck.  He did come out with Brian's shorts wrapped around his chest.  Crazy kid.

I laughed and told him he was out of luck.  (Bri was at a church meeting...so he was not in on the negotiations.)  Park headed back into the laundry room and found this safety vest in his locker.  He was very pleased with himself.  The rest of us had never even seen this safety vest before.  It seems that it was from his job this summer, but he never wore it.  He was very safe at our table though.

It was a pretty casual dinner and at one point Aubrey stretched out on the bench.  I chose to let it go and pretty soon she sat back up. 

We don't use our phones during dinner so I had to be a little sneaky in taking these pictures.  Apparently my manners can use a little work as well! 

Notice none of the kids are sitting up and their arms are on the table...I'm crying inside. 

On the positive side, we did sit down and eat together even though it was just nachos and fruit smoothies.  I do love the bonding time that comes from eating together.  We laugh, joke, practice manners (had to include that, ha), eat better, and share about our days. 

One of my all time favorite quotes is:

So I will keep remembering the good things and enjoy my silly, kind, smart teens while they are still living at home.