Proper Manners

I just had the shock of my life while at scouts tonight. We had a yummy spaghetti dinner complete with all the fixin's and had Elizabeth Wiler, (a mother of one of our scouters -not to mention the fact that she is seriously like a wonder-woman homemaker) come in and teach the boys about proper etticut (sp?) and table manners. I was kinda expecting the whole ordeal to be somewhat disastrous considering it was a bunch of hyper-active 8 year old boys who think boy scouts is like Chucky Cheeses, and every week is pretty chaotic, but believe it or not, these boys were sporting some pretty amazing manners. She showed them the proper way to set the table and explained that you always serve on the left and take away from the right (umm, I didn't know that - did you?). One thing she emphasized was that you have to have a conversation going, but never talk about yourself unless asked by someone else and don't talk while your mouth is full and never direct a question to someone who has a mouth full of food. It was hilarious seeing what questions the boys would bring up next. They were trying so hard to be on their best behavior and like they were eating somewhere super fancy that they completely changed there vocabulary to the best of there ability to accommodate the situation. Some of the questions I overheard, was: Are you playing any sports this season? What is your favorite video game to play? Do you like orange juice or apple juice better? Let me tell you, I learned alot more about some of these boys. The whole atmasphere that was created made you feel like you were in the nicest restaurant you have ever been in and you were dressed up for like the prom or something, yet here we were with 8 year olds as our company and instead of fancy ball gowns, we were all in our frumpy scout shirts. I was completely impressed how they would all take turns and try and serve each other when they wanted seconds on something. Like one boy wanted more water, and after he filled up his cup, he walked around the table to see if he could fill up others cups if they wanted him too.... never mind the fact that almost all of the boys at that point had cups that were still pretty full. :) I couldn't believe the manners that was preformed tonight. I wish that I had a video camera so we could show each of the parents what angels they have for there children not to mention that when my kids get bigger they can learn these amazing manners too. I mean, I teach the basic manners but I have no idea about what to do in 5 star places. In those situations I normally get nervous and do the wrong thing... So, just so you know, it is not impossible to teach amazing manners to an 8 year old. :)