Nice plates and table manners: a recipe for a relaxing evening

I just realized the other day that we've never really used plastic plates for the kids. I wish I could say it was because we thought plastic was bad or that we're trying to raise our kids with good manners. However, neither of those are true. In my limited cabinet space, I've only had room for my everyday white porcelain plates. Albeit, I have about 20 place settings of it... all wedding gifts, of course.

At any rate, I never really did use that many plastic bowls or plates for the boys. When they were learning to feed themselves (and were stubborn about it), I did use plastic bowls. However, I've since lost all of those.

When I think about it, it does make life a lot easier when going out to eat or to someone else's home. I don't have to worry about my kids breaking the dishes. To be honest, I've broken more plates and bowls than they have. Yes, I am clumsy!

So, in the grand scheme of things, it turned out ok that I didn't have tons of plastic plates and bowls. If I had more than just two kids, I might be saying something else. However, this is where I am right now, and I love that my family can use nice plates every night for dinner.

We're also working on dinnertime manners. Just the other night, my Hubby sat down and told the boys that we were going to have a peaceful dinner. To me, it seemed like a tall order. Regus #2 attempted to protest, as he did not take a very good nap and was grumpy. After a few minutes of self-pitty and pouting, Regus #2 conceded.  Then, we all enjoyed a lovely, relaxing dinner. It so nice to see that manners can make the dinnertime process so much more relaxing. The boys are learning to ask for permission to leave the table. This helps in SO many areas: (1) we enjoy our entire meal together; (2) the fussing is now at a minimum; (3) it helps with clearing the table as they must put their plate in the sink; and (4) our out-to-eat adventures are not so stressful because the understand the rules.

What dinnertime habits do you have that make it a more relaxing time?