Table Manners for your Family Faulkner County Junior Leadership
[U of A University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture]
[Mrs. Dora Dinnan, Mrs. Manners] In part of our manners that we’ve been studying, we spend more time eating with our family in a family environment, rather than eating formerly. Many of our families now days eat out almost as much as we eat at home. But table manners are important whether you are eating at home or you’re eating out. And a couple of things I would just like to remind you of as we are in a family situation, whether or not you are at home or in a fast food restaurant.
You want to get your napkin in your lap and if you are at home, ask your mom if you can set the table. Thing to remember always, mostly when we are in a family setting, we have a knife, a fork and a spoon. The fork always goes on the left, the knife goes next to the plate on the right and the spoon is next to that, and our beverage, tea or water, or milk, is at the tip of the knife. Set the table for your mom and your dad because everybody’s busy today, everybody’s working, so we as 4-Hers and family members need to be a part of that.
[Group of youth sitting at a table learning about table manners and how to correctly pass serving dishes.] One of the things to remember when you are eating in a family style is to try to relax and enjoy yourself. It’s not the place to bring all of the arguments. When we start to pass food, try to remember if you can, that whoever starts the food first, if they pass it to the right, and then you pick up food and you are going to pass it, if your mom or your dad says, will you pass the potatoes Johnny, then you be sure that you pass that food the same direction as we’ve passed the other food. If we don’t, what happens is, somebody at the table is going to sitting there like this and they are going to have a bowl of food or plate in each hand and they are not going to be able to serve themselves.
[Youth serving themselves, passing bowls, and eating.] So try to remember, serve it all to the same direction if you can, pay attention to your parents, keep your elbows off the table, we don’t do elbows, we call that elbow alert. Deal with your napkin in a proper way. [Mrs. Manners show the proper use of napkins.] We like to say with your napkin, you are going to be dabbers, you’re not going to be swipers and wipe like this. Napkins are not to be used as a handkerchief and when you finish with your napkin, do not wad it up and put it in your plate. When you finish with your napkin, even if it is a paper napkin, or like at my house, a paper towel most of the meals, kind of put it like this and just set it up on the table, which means you are finished with your meal.
Try to have good conversation with your family and enjoy your family meals in the setting that you are in.
[Narrator] To learn more about this and other topics, contact your county extension agent and visit uaex.edu.
[Title slide - Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. various pictures of people, crops and farming equipment]
