A La Table <--That's French

In my last post, I talked about the book I am reading in preparation for teaching the lessons in it for my adult Sunday School class.  If you can follow the machinations of my brain, the flow looks like this:

Read book about biblical foods--think about what it means--find associations of that with the current world--have my daughter write to me online to say that her teenage children are driving her nuts with what they will and will not eat--think about how she was about food as a youngster--think about how my siblings and I were about food when we were kids--think about the dinner table rules in our household and how it all translated into our food/etiquette philosophies in our own households as adults.  That's my train of thought.  If you can follow that, congratulations!

All of that is the precursor to what I am writing about today.
We are all creatures of habit.  Some of those habits were formed when we were young children, usually as a result of what we were taught by our parents.  Some of them just happened by way of our childhood fears.  Some of the most interesting discussions my classes had came when I challenged them to think about their bedtime routines.  Do you sleep with a night light?  Door open or closed?  Keep water by your bedside?  Sheets and blankets tucked in at the bottom of the bed, or kept loose?  Fan on?  If yes, why?  For white noise?  For breeze and temperature control?  Window open or closed?  Do you sleep covered up or uncovered?  Stuffed animal for snuggling?  You get the picture.  Rarely is anyone ever ambiguous about their bedtime circumstances and routine!

The same is true with meals.
Unless you are Jewish and keep Kosher, meals are prepared without much fanfare.
They are presented at the table in whatever way the family accepts.  Some people are given plates already filled, as with a restaurant.  Others fill their own plates from the pots on the stove.  Still others have the food put in serving dishes and taken to the table, to be passed "family style".  Which is yours?

Our family did the family style thing.  Our food was put in serving dishes, placed on the table, and passed.  That implies choices.  Children--being children--aren't always offered choices.  Things that are good for them and necessary for good nutrition are often not the things that taste the best to immature palates.  This is where Dinner Table Rules come in.  Consider these:

1.  You cannot have dessert unless you clean your plate (that your parents filled).
2.  Clean your plate, dessert or no dessert.  You will stay at the table until you do.
3.  You must at least taste a tiny bit of everything on the table.
4.  Take what you want, but eat what you take.  Don't waste food.
5.  Take ONE helping of things you like.  If there is anything left after everyone has had their portion, you may have more.
6.  If you don't like something on the table, it isn't polite to mention that as it is offered to you.  Just say, "No thank you."
7.  This is what we are having for dinner.  The cook will not provide other things just because you don't like what we are having.
8.  No elbows on the table.
9.  No singing or electronics while at the table.  And no TV.
10.  You must stay at the table until excused by an adult.
11.  No feeding pets from the table.

Do any of these ring true to you?  How many of these rules happened at your house when you were a kid, and how many of them have you continued with your own children and grandchildren?  And the bottom line is:  did it matter?  Did your children/grandchildren grow up malnourished?  Did they fail to thrive?  Were you holding up a standard that meant something?  Or were you just following what you had been taught?

I often had to explain to my child, grandchildren, and students that rules weren't made by adults who stayed up at night just to figure out how to make kids' lives miserable.  They happen for a reason.  Yes, even dinner time rules.  Without them, life is just chaos.  Not sure if everyone agrees, but the proof is in the pudding.  If meals are the things that fill our bellies and our souls, they must follow rules so we know what to expect.

Am I wrong??