Leila wrote:
> You may know that I'm the mother of two large small boys, 6 1/2 and
> almost 5; they are high-spirited, hilarious, sloppy, and not good at
> fine motor tasks. Meals at my house are therefore messy and chaotic.
> We eat in the kitchen, which is small and cluttered. The kids are
> always rambunctious at suppertime and I get frazzled. They behave
> reasonably well at table in restaurants and grandparents' homes,
> however, so they aren't completely savage. But the younger one has
> been refusing to come to the table (???) and was beginning to test me
> in other ways at supper time. What a hassle.
>
> Today the 6 y.o. and I were at Ikea, where he was enchanted by a model
> dining room; he sat down at a place setting, discussed the
> arrangements, spent ten minutes organizing and rearranging the plates,
> chargers, candles etc. He's neurologically atypical and can be quirky
> about things - he likes lining items up in rows. He just loved that
> table setting, was delighted by the whole room. A light bulb went off
> in my head. why not put out placemats and set the table decently at
> home?
>
> For dinner tonight I asked the two boys if they wanted to eat in the
> dining room: YES! Want to help set the table? YES!!!! Oh boy. They got
> to choose placemats and plate color, and the four year old found
> napkin rings and insisted we use them (he'd never seen them used in
> this house, don't know where he got the idea). THey brought serving
> dishes in, and carefully laid a slice of cuke and tomato on mom and
> dad's plates - saving some for us, you know, as they polished off the
> rest of 'em themselves. They were models of civilized behavior.
> Furthermore - who would have thought that the 4 y.o., who is obsessed
> with guns, police, wearing construction worker costumes, nose picking
> and fart jokes, would turn into such a table-service diva? He pulled
> out five tea candles - one for each of us and one for the center. He
> directed the placement of napkin rings. He unfolded the napkin and
> placed it carefully on his lap. ???
>
> Somehow these children have gotten a taste for civilized dining. God
> knows they haven't seen much of it in our house lately, but they eat
> with grandma once a week, and she sets a nice table (but mostly in her
> tiny kitchen, not all this folderol of candles and such).
>
> I have resolved to eat dinner in the dining room every night. It
> causes such good behavior (and we like looking out the window at the
> sunset reflected on our roses)
>
> Furthermore, the civilized atmosphere makes the food taste better. Ob
> Food: Tonight was pot roast in the pressure cooker, a simple recipe
> with red wine, diced tomatoes, onion and garlic. I should have put in
> celery and carrot but I just forgot...ANyway, you can bet that the
> father of the household was happy to come home to well-behaved
> children, a lovely dining room (most of the kid clutter had been swept
> elsewhere) and a nice pot roast (and me, smiling serenely in the
> candlelight). Here's to the finer domestic niceties.
>
> Leila

That is so cool, Leila! I don't think when I was 4 years old my parents
even *owned* napkin rings, let alone used them Hope it keeps up! With
lots of positive encouragement for the creativity of the youngun's, I have a
feeling it will.

Jill