January 3, 2012

Mind Your Manners

Do you get tired of correcting bad manners at the dinner table?
I hate having to be the Warden of the Table.  Inevitably I end up feeling worn out or defeated from having to say, "don't talk with food in your mouth;" "arms off the table;" "chew with your mouth closed."

We started something new that I found on Pinterest and it has given me a newfound freedom at dinner.

This little pig joins our table each night.  If I see someone using bad manners, I don't have to say a thing.  I simply place the pig in front of that person.  Whoever ends up with the pig at the end of dinner has to clean up the whole table.

Needless to say, it has greatly improved our dinner table etiquette.  Nobody (including Mom and Dad) wants to end up with the pig. :)

*We did have to set some ground rules, the most important being that only Mom gets to decide who gets the pig, unless she is caught by the others.  Needless to say, when we first started, the kids were all too eager to find fault in each other.

We found our pig in the dollar section at Target.  See the yellow button on his belly?  It makes a grunting sound.  Hilariously perfect.

Linking up with A2Z's Tips  and At The Picket Fence today!

11 comments:

mer@lifeat7000feet said...

Brilliant! I love this idea.

Happy New Year!

ashley said...

oh my goodness... LOVE this!!!

Kimberly said...

I LOVE how Smart you are!!!

Karen said...

May I steal this idea? Love it!

Anonymous said...

I saw that on Pinterest, too! How wonderful that you have implemented it- I am going to have to try that too, such a great idea! Although I can't imagine anyone in your sweet family ending with the pig. Maybe Rocko?
EBF

*Can you tell I'm catching up on your blog tonight? :)

Richella Parham said...

This is brilliant! I wish I'd thought of something like this when my boys were younger! I was very strict with manners when my oldest two were little boys. By the time #3 came along, our life really got complicated in various ways. . . and manners training took a back seat. That's one of my regrets. Something like this piggy would have helped us stay on track! :)

Ika Devita Susanti said...

Terrific! Great idea! I will apply it on the dining.

jason and jen said...

What a great idea!!! I love it and will be trying to find a little pig myself!

Renee said...

I love this idea. I may borrow it for our table, even though it is just the 3 of us. Table manners have been an issue lately.

At The Picket Fence said...

This is a fantastic idea!! I'm totally going to try and do this at our house too. I cracked up about your kids trying to place the pig in front of each other...could definitely see my kids doing that too. LOL! Thanks so much for coming by and joining Inspiration Friday this week...hope to see lots more of you in the future! :-)
Vanessa

Sandy said...

Great idea!