Help Your Preschooler Master These Six Table Manners

Help Your Child Master These Six Table Manners This Holiday Season

If dining at your house is chaotic, rushed, and uncivilized, you are not alone! However, with the holidays here you are probably anticipating meals with extended family and wondering how you can make your dinners a little less unruly. At Fay, our lunches are served family-style, with a teacher joining a group of students who are assigned to a new lunch table every two weeks. Not only does this foster new friendships between students, but it is also an excellent opportunity to establish some basic table manners. “Practicing good manners helps us enjoy each other's company and conversation as well as the delicious food,” says Fay’s Head of Primary School Katie Knuppel. With the holidays here, make sure your child has the skills to be a positive presence at any dinner table.

1. Waiting - Patience is hard, but a preschooler should be able to wait until everyone is seated before eating, approximately pace their eating to everyone else at the table, and ask to be excused before leaving.

2. Using Utensils and Napkins - While many preschoolers may still need help cutting their food with a knife, they should be using a fork and spoon to eat instead of their fingers. Napkins should be in their laps and occasionally used to clean off their mouths during a meal.

3. Asking questions and responding politely - By this age, answering “Yes, please” or “No, thank you” when offered food should be a habit. A preschooler should also know how to ask for something politely at the table, for example, “Could you please pass the stuffing?”

4. Be a Good Conversationalist - In addition to responding politely, preschoolers should know how the basics of engaging in conversation: such as looking someone in the eyes when speaking with them, using an “inside voice” that is appropriate to the environment, and abstaining from fun but distracting habits like singing at the table! At Fay, our students practice their public speaking skills at lunch with fun traditions like Tell a Joke Tuesday and Fun Fact Friday.

5. Stay positive - While compliments to the chef are always welcome, nobody wants to hear negative comments about food that “looks gross” or “smells yucky.” Encourage your child to be generous with their compliments and politely say “No thank you” to anything that doesn’t look appetizing to them.

6. Pitch in - When it is time to clean up, make sure your child gets involved by helping to clear the table. Even if they’re gathering up napkins and small items from the table, it’s a good habit that will make them an appreciated guest as they get older.

About Fay School

Fay School was founded in 1866 and is the oldest junior boarding school in the United States. Our 66-acre campus is located in Southborough, MA, just 25 miles from Boston. Our community includes 475 students in kindergarten through grade nine and includes 150 boarders in grades 7-9 from across the United States and over 25 countries. Fay is recognized around the world for its superior educational program, and our graduates are accepted to top secondary schools. Fay's program empowers students to discover their talents, develop their intellectual abilities, establish essential academic skills and knowledge, and define their moral character - all essential to living a life of meaning and making a positive difference in the world.

Help Your Child Master Table Manners

Help Your Child Master These Six Table Manners This Holiday Season

About Fay School

Learn more about Fay School.