General Chat

heard it on the radio on the way home form work..........Didn't catch which school it was but one school is to start lessons on good manners with children

EG...........how to use a knife and fork

That was all I caught and wondered if anyone else had heard it and what your thoghts were???

what a good idea - I see so many children - and adults - who have absolutely no idea how to use a knife and fork properly. Also so many adults who can't hold a pen properly - some seem to write upside down!! It asolutely amazes me.

In my humble opinion, schools have enough to do without teaching manners - surely this is up to the parents?

Ann

My Dad was so strict when it came to using a knife and fork and also how you should place them once you had finished your meal..........I swore I wouldn't be the same with my kids...............BUT guess what??? I'm exactley the same and it drives me mad to see kids who don't use them right

Sheila couldn't agree with you more, unfortunatley not all parents can be bothered with teaching manners of any sort

It's down to the parents to teach the little darlings how to use a knife and fork!

Give me strength! What will schools be expected to do next - teach them how to wipe their little botties? (Or big botties as the case may be!)

Manners like so many other social skills should be initiated at home of course but they should be continues at school. In my opinion, so many teachers only are taught to worry about SAT results that kids are suffering in all sorts of ways when it comes to socialisation.

love T.x

course it should be up to the parents Sheila, but seems some parents aren't up to it, don't care or can't be bothered - I feel that discipline, respect and good manners is the basis of making a good citizen

Sounds a good idea until you start thinking about this a bit further. Where on earth are the schools supposed to find the time?
Take out breaks from a school day & you're only left with 5 hours. Minus an hour each for Maths & Literacy = 15 hours a week to cover History, Geography, Music, Art, ICT, Science, D & T, PE, Drama, PSE, Assembly & in our case Welsh.

Ann - yes, you are right - I suppose the question is WHY aren't they bothered? If the parents can't be bothered, the child won't, the child's child will also have no manners!

so they gonna have a training day for that then first are they
cos and dont get me wrong some teachers are great
but some ive seen are so split personalitys, they treat the kids one way then be politer than pollite to parents,
ive seen it, and watched the kids get the blame

saying that ive always told mine to be polite, and if they are met with rudeness just smile politely and appologise if its felt they upset someone, then i go in and all hell breaks loose if they continue to be spoke down to

that's the sad part of it Sheila - these days it's kids having kids and let's face it, so many without fathers - not that I'm saying mothers don't do a good job [don't want to get myself in a big hole here!] but family values have gone out of the window

I remember when I was a very new teacher in a primary school (about 30 years ago) a fellow teacher came into the staff room clutching a letter from a parent. The teacher was so amazed that she was almost speechless because the parent had asked the teacher if she could teach her child (aged 5 or 6) to use a knife and fork.
When the teacher checked her register that particular child didn't even stay for school dinners but was a packed lunch bringer!

Sue

couldn't make it up could you!

Bring back school dinners at reasonable rates!

my grandaughter is two and a half
the first two words she put together were
tan choo thats thank you in baby talk
never too early to be taught manners
lynnx

Maybe they should be teaching the parents the manners from the horror stories I've heard.

Totally agree with you Claire.

Children should learn manners and social skills in the home. School should not have to teach them.

I worked in Education for many years and some children have no idea what a knife and fork are for. they eat with their fingers, talk with their mouths full, never use please or thank you and never listen to adults.

Unfortunately many parents of these children have never mastered these skills either.

Viv

I think this is a boarding school, fees £24,000, and they are going to teach how to set a table correctly, iron a shirt, tie a bow tie, use the right cutlery etc etc which is fine as there will be extra time for it with the youngsters living in.
I was a school dinner lady (oops, midday supervisor) at a first school, and I was amazed at how many children had no idea how to hold a knife and fork properly. In fact, my o.h.'s sons were the same, one held his arm round his plate and shovelled food in that way, holding his knife pointing up in the air, the other one ate so fast he would be finished first everytime, you would think someone was waiting to steal his food the way he went at it, and he still does it at the age of 26, and neither of them knew to place the knife and fork together when they finished eating. When I tried to show o.h. the difference between his main course forks and dessert forks, setting the table one day, he told me I was a snob!
His kids would just shovel their food in and get up from the table, without a word even if others were eating, they were dragged up.
Lizx

All the kids in our family have good table manners, even my nephew who has severe learning difficulties knows how to hold a knife and fork (he struggles with cutting but is determined) and they all know how to put them when they've finished.

The only thing I can't abide is the younger two (8 and 6) have picked up the worst habit from their mother (I hasten to add that she's my sis in law as we'd be shot for it) of chewing with their mouths open. And if one does it the other starts up again after being corrected. It drives mum and I nuts, we seem to spend every meal telling them to chew with their mouths closed.