Confidence, kindness & consideration begin at the family table!
Be sure to sign up for your free Family Table Manners Checklist. It’s a handy list of the table manners your children need to know plus tips to help you build their table manners confidence -with no stress, nagging, or fuss required!
Try this simple table manners lesson at the dinner table tonight. 
A cornerstone of good table manners is using silverware correctly. You want your children to learn these skills so they will be confident dining anywhere, with anyone.
Do your children know…
- the Continental or American method of using the knife and fork? Random fact- One is also called zig-zag.
- how to cut food correctly? It’s a tricky skill for children to learn but vital to being polite and polished.
- what a proper bite size is? Hint- It’s about the size of a quarter!
- the silent signals of silverware? Share the short lesson below with them, and they will!
In this post, I’m sharing the silent signals of silverware.
This is a simple table manners skill to teach your family and can be learned quickly at your next meal.
Directions
Use these four teaching points to teach your family the silent signals. Show the diagrams to your children as they learn this new table manners skill.
Be sure to use the three conversation starters!
1– Once silverware has been used, it should never be set back on the tabletop. It should always be resting on a plate.
2– Servers in restaurants are trained to recognize the silent signals. Use the silent signals at every meal (when dining out and at home). Your good table manners show you’re confident and considerate.
3– There are two slightly different variations of the silent signals, as you’ll see in the pictures below. One is for the American method of eating, and the other is for the Continental method. Both are considered to be good manners!
4– Use the resting position between bites. When you’re finished eating, put your knife and fork in the finished position. This signals to the server that he may clear your plate. Note- the knife blades are always turned inwards towards you.
5- Conversation starters-
*Are table manners important? Why or why not? * Do you have any table manners pet peeves? What are they? *
For the adults- Share about business-related dining you’ve experienced or the “fanciest” restaurant you’ve ever been to.*
