Once Upon a Place Setting

Over time our culture has lost some formalities. Some for better, some for worse.
Call me crazy but I am determined that my family of four sons and a daughter grow up with some sort of etiquette. ie. gentlemen open doors for ladies, the words "please" and "thank you" can never be used enough, and don't pick you nose in public. Along these same lines is the quest to teach my children the correct way to set a table.
 With this goal in mind I made up a little story to help me out and then focused a short family night around it. The story worked better than I could have ever anticipated.
When my mom was over one day before dinner she witnessed the miracle of my 4 year old son setting the table by himself. He, then told grandma the story of "The Royal Silverware"; she immediately turned to me and said "you should put that on your blog".
So here I am to retell my little story to you....

Once upon a time in a Kingdom called Dine'r Table' (feel free to use a French accent, He, he) there was a castle (plate). The castle had a beautiful
tower (glass) that sat at the top right hand side of the castle.  At the left side of the castle sat a comfy throne (napkin).

In this kingdom there lived a King (fork) that wore a poky crown, a beautiful queen (spoon), and a valiant knight (knife); that had a sharp sword.

 The King (fork) always sat on the throne (napkin) to rule the kingdom.

The queen (spoon) spent all her time near the castle tower (glass), as most queens do. The knight (knife) was told by the king to guard the fair queen and protect her from any harm.

Everybody in kingdom, Dine'r Table' had their own place and they lived happily ever after...The END.

We then had each of our kids take a turn retelling the story to us and setting the table.....and Success! My kids now know how to set a table.

It's fun to hear my kids mumble the story to themselves as they set the table.