Good manners...please and thank you, excuse me, I'm sorry...
there are SO many little rules about polite behaviour
that we instill in our little ones.
Most of it is by example, so today, we hosted a pretend tea party.
'Yeah!!! Tea party!!' ...
meanwhile, on mom's hidden agenda :
Teach your kid good hosting skills (and how to be a great guest)
Firstly, laying the table.
Tamlyn helps lay the table for dinner, Ethan helps by laying out the cutlery.
And both Butterballs help clear their place once dinner is over,
(reminders are necessary!)
Tamlyn laid the table for today's tea party
(while Ethan was in the bathroom...cos 'he will just mess it up')
She has my passion for pretty tablescapes
and I think she did an awesome job,
right down to the paper-doilie placemats.
Down to business...
each Butterball had a turn to play host\hostess.
- Please and thank you.
- The host serves the guests first and themselves last.
- The guest will take just one cupcake (the cute, plastic cupcakes are from Toys r Us) not the entire tray!
- Ask for seconds politely, once you have finished what is on your plate (host must remember to offer seconds and refill empty cups)
My little hostess serving her brother!
Ethan remembered to ask 'his guest'
how many lumps of sugar she would like...too cute!
The Butterballs love to clink their cups and shout 'Cheers'
(or 'Muffin'...thanks to Aunty Debs!)
Dad dropped in for a cup of tea.
'No Dad, don't slurp your tea!' exclaimed Tamlyn
Both Butterballs helped clear the table.
Tamlyn had a sink full of washing up to do,
while Ethan packed the cupcakes into the fridge!
The Butterballs loved their tea party.
We will definitely be doing this role play quite often.
The Butterballs were so eager to 'do it right'
and they had so much fun!
It was much easier teaching them those little skills
when there were no real sweet treats to distract and give them a sugar rush.
I would love to try this activity out again using my china tea set...one day ;)
