On our second evening at UNCP with the Upward bound participants we got down right rude. Actually we kicked the evening off with the top ten rude behaviors. On the list were things like burping at the table, picking your teeth and believe it or not, the number one rude behavior, talking on your cell phone at the table. That got everyone's attention.
Then we moved forward to table settings. The participants were all at small tables (four to a table) and we passed out our fancy 70's xeroxed china and silverware. Then it was up to our youth to try to make it all work. Although there were some comments to the effect of, "I would never use this much silverware," and, " who has this many dishes at one meal," they worked really hard to get it all in order. As we shared some tips with them (things like fork which has four letters in the word goes on the left which also has four letters while knife and spoon have five letters each and go on the right which also is made up of five letters) they were brave and got up to assemble a place setting in front of the group. The last thing to be put in place was the napkin. As we discussed where it goes and where it doesn't go (tucked in the neck of a shirt or the belt of your pants) we learned some tricks to handling napkins. Of course napkins lead to wiping your mouth and what do you wipe off your mouth? That's right food.
Our next venture was a little dessert celebration where our youth had the opportunity to practice what they had learned and learned what not to do. Things like piling two plates high is not necessarily the way to go when you need a hand free to shake hands. They also learned what foods are easy to eat with fingers and what foods are not. It was a delicious learning lesson.
Before we left there were gifts for everyone. Christy and I gave out our 4-H Etiquette Books so they would always have a little reminder in case they need it in college or other social situations. The gifts did not stop there, the student President of the Upward Bound program gave Christy Strickland and myself an official Upward Bound t-shirt and memory sticks. Very wonderful and useful gifts. We may have to check our etiquette books to check the guidelines on writing thank you notes for that.
Then we moved forward to table settings. The participants were all at small tables (four to a table) and we passed out our fancy 70's xeroxed china and silverware. Then it was up to our youth to try to make it all work. Although there were some comments to the effect of, "I would never use this much silverware," and, " who has this many dishes at one meal," they worked really hard to get it all in order. As we shared some tips with them (things like fork which has four letters in the word goes on the left which also has four letters while knife and spoon have five letters each and go on the right which also is made up of five letters) they were brave and got up to assemble a place setting in front of the group. The last thing to be put in place was the napkin. As we discussed where it goes and where it doesn't go (tucked in the neck of a shirt or the belt of your pants) we learned some tricks to handling napkins. Of course napkins lead to wiping your mouth and what do you wipe off your mouth? That's right food.
Our next venture was a little dessert celebration where our youth had the opportunity to practice what they had learned and learned what not to do. Things like piling two plates high is not necessarily the way to go when you need a hand free to shake hands. They also learned what foods are easy to eat with fingers and what foods are not. It was a delicious learning lesson.
Before we left there were gifts for everyone. Christy and I gave out our 4-H Etiquette Books so they would always have a little reminder in case they need it in college or other social situations. The gifts did not stop there, the student President of the Upward Bound program gave Christy Strickland and myself an official Upward Bound t-shirt and memory sticks. Very wonderful and useful gifts. We may have to check our etiquette books to check the guidelines on writing thank you notes for that.
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