Table Manners on Shine

What's the worst thing your kid has done in a restaurant?

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I remember the first time I took my son LBZ to a restaurant. He was 3 months old and I was out of my skull with worry. What if he howled like a banshee? What if I couldn't make him stop? What if other people snarled and shot us get-away-from-my-Sunday looks? I wasn't so far from my…

Parenting poll: Do you let your kids text message at the dinner table?

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An NBC affiliate in Philadelphia recently posed a challenge to five high school students: Could they give up text messaging, cell phones, iPods, computer time and video games for 10 days? David Silver, one teen…

Do I have something in my teeth? And other annoying habits we should be aware of

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The other day I told an acquaintance something I've been wanting to say for a long time: "You have about 6 months worth of plaque stuck between your two front teeth." Why didn't I tell her this before? The truth is that a. we aren't that close and b. it wasn't my place. It's the place of the mirror, a string of dental floss, a dentist or close friend, but not an acquaintance. I took one for the team and decided if I didn't step up to the plate, the girl would be walking around, smiling and making people a little queasy without knowing. I began to think about things people don’t and should share, even their loosest acquaintance, to spare another's embarrassment.

Crabmommy's Momocrite Diaries: Blaming my sloppy manners on motherhood

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"Don't talk with your mouth full," I say to Crabkid via a mouth full of food.

"Eat slowly, and chew your food nicely," I say, having long since dispatched my dinner in about twelve seconds.

These are the sorts of things that have been coming out of the Crabmommy mouth of late, when we sit down together for our weekend family dinners. As some of you already know, we don't eat dinner with our child during the week (shocking, I know), so Crabkid isn't always privy to our lax grownup table manners, and maybe that's why we don't pay much attention to them. But lately I've become aware of the following sad state of affairs: not only have my table manners slipped since becoming a parent, but I'm going to have to clean them up for the very same reason.

What family traditions have you created for your kids?

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I'm a big fan of family traditions. I especially enjoy ones that my kids helped create. Amy I. posted last week about her Mother's/Father's Day tradition. She and her husband give each other illustrated children's books about moms and dads. I love this idea because it has a personal...

Bring back table manners for kids

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During a dinner date this weekend, I was seated two tables away from a family with a teenager, a tween, a mom, dad and one set of grandparents. Completely wholesome, I thought, until the son got up and walked past us. He was a technological maven: Ear pods in his ear for his iPod. ...