Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble: A Novel (33 page)
Read Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble: A Novel Online
Authors: Ann B. Ross
Whatever you do, don’t get slack about your dinner table. Once you permit your children to eat by the television, they’ll never learn any manners. They’ll ruin your rugs and carpets, too. Teach them table manners early by setting a proper table and expecting them to learn which fork to use and to chew with their mouths closed. Use your good china, sterling, and crystal at least on holidays, until they’re old enough to appreciate everyday use.
Teach them also the correct way to cut meat with a knife and fork. Nothing says poor raising like clasping a fork upright in your fist and holding the meat like it’s trying to get away from you.
And speaking of training children in the way they should go, little rhymes help to remind them. For instance, my children were trained to sit up straight and keep one hand in their laps by saying,
Mabel, Mabel, strong and able.
Get your elbows off the table.
There is also not one thing wrong with teaching children to say grace before they eat. A moment of prayer settles them down and makes for good digestion, besides teaching them to be thankful for what they have and especially for the hands that prepared it.
(Hazel Marie, this is a warning—LuAnne says she has a lot more helpful hints and will pass them along as soon as she thinks of them. So just thank her for her help, then do as you please. You know as much about gracious living as she does and probably more.)
Binkie’s Mother’s Corn Chowder
Coleman’s Hamburgers on the Grill
Etta Mae’s Granny’s Ritz Cracker Pie
James’s Parmesan-Dipped-Chicken
LuAnne’s No-Cook Barbecue Sauce
Miss Mattie’s Chicken and Rice Casserole
