Teaching Children Table Manners

My children used to have horrible table manners.  They would talk with their mouths full, put their elbows on the table, forget to say please and thank you and eat with their fingers. I felt like a horrible mother nagging them time and time again which seemed to have no effect whatsoever.

One day I found this great idea on Pinterest. The idea was to get a small pig toy and during dinner whenever someone broke one of the manner rules, they would get the piggy. Whoever was left with the piggy at the end of dinner would have to clear off the table.

I immediately tried out this idea with our family at dinner time. It worked like a charm!  The first day the piggy was passed back and forth between our children dozens of times.  Someone forgot to say thank you. Someone chewed with their mouth full. Someone had their elbows on the table, etc.  Finally towards the end of dinner, my oldest said, "Mom, I don't want to do any of those things you said because I DON'T want the piggy!"  I was so glad that she was finally getting it!  And what was even better was I didn't have to nag! When I saw someone with bad manners I simply and quietly passed the piggy to them and said, "You forget to say please."  The kids also had fun trying to see if they could catch mom or dad with bad manners so they could give us the piggy!

After having used this method with our family for the past few weeks I have noticed a huge difference in our families eating habits. The piggy gave our children a visual reminder of what not to do at the dinner table and helped teach them good table manners.