News1 min ago
Elbows On Table
I've just read one of those tik toc videos on Facebook..a little lad, possibly 2ish eating. Feeding himself, elbow on the table, slouched over the plate.
The comments I found horrendous after someone dare to suggest the child should get the elbow off the table, sit up instead of slouch.
Answers were it's not the dark ages, whats wrong with elbows, we've moved on from then..
Another says, it's just another way to control people leave him alone.
I'm old-school where manners at least are a priority. Do 'you' think it doesn't matter any more. Have manners slipped so badly?
Answers
No best answer has yet been selected by Thisoldbird. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.I taught both my daughters to eat properly and they were using small, safe cutlery from a very early age. Certainly I remember that one mum, at her child's 2nd birthday party being rather amazed by this and that was over 40 years ago.
Recently I was invited to watch a video of someone's little darling 'eating' his 1st birthday cake (obviously an expensive one)by smashing his hands and arms into it and covering his face with cake. Te younger women were all making cooing versions of 'aaahh, bless'. I refrained from comment.
Yes it matters. People's methods of feeding themselves (sometimes revolting) should not cause concern to others.
My sister and I were bought up never to have elbows on the table, talk with your mouth full, use both knife and fork and never ever ever sit down at the table wearing a hat.That code remains with me today and I am not ashamed of good manners and table etiquette. Please may I leave this post. Thank you.
If you don't know the answer to your 10:18 question, then I shall not be the one to tell you.
I once had an older friend from the high aristocracy (daughter of an earl). In later life sadly she succumbed to Alzheimer's, to the point where she couldn't often find her way around her own house, but the amazing thing was, that her manners at table & elsewhere remained as immaculate as they had always been.
As the saying goes; manners maketh the man (& woman).
Using a fork with the tines curving upwards is th sensible thing to do. Eating peas balanced on the back of a fork is daft. Some table manners are irrational and often based on what the king or queen used to do, and that it was considered necessary to imitate them instead of doing what was practical. Tipping your soup bowl away from you as you scoop up the last drops of soup; using a fork upside down; even lithping.
Consideration for others is a good thing, but do we really want to be nannied for no good reason?