FORMAL FAMILY DINNERS

It’s often noted these days that children don’t know how to act in more formal settings, and considering the behavior routinely witnessed in neighborhood restaurants, it’s hard to argue that point. The fact is, many of today’s young people don’t get much practice.

Eating out is so commonplace now that public tables are treated as personal ones. And dinnertime is often such a hurried affair that kids have gotten used to regularly leaving their seat at the table to grab what they need, talking excitedly over others and disappearing into electronics