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Kitchen Moments ~ Have Fun with Your Children!
12:24 AM, Oct. 28, 2008
I'll admit it, I'm romantic at heart! And I absolutely love the Regency era (this is the time period that Jane Austen lived and wrote here books about)! I'm even going to make my daughters and I Regency dresses (if you are interested, the patterns are from this site. I am very interested in "fashion history" so much that I read articles and study picture after picture from just about any time period. But that's another story....
 ). I'm so interested in this time period and, dare I say, infatuated with the etiquette, charm, simplicity and the over all "politeness" that we lack so dreadfully as a society. I realize that we are a different society in a different age, but I can still try and achieve some of it's charm, simplicity and teach my children what manners are all about. Carrying out this ideal is, perhaps, not so easy. Esp. with all of the influence the outside world has on us. But I have found one simple way to incorporate all of the above and still have fun with your children. Are you ready for this? Have a tea party! I'm serious! Do you have some beautiful china and crystal that only see the light of day once, maybe twice a year? Or do you have a collection of delicate tea cups (or perhaps want to start one)? Do you have a favorite kind of tea? A tea part answers all of these questions and still more that I haven't asked. This is a wonderful way to teach your children, and remind yourself, what table manners are. There is something so very "old world" about a tea party that nothing these days come close. Get those cups out of the cabinet, brew that tea, put down the "good" table cloth and have some fun! Here is what I did. First, I set the table.  This is my grandmother's china and crystal. I laid down a crocheted table cloth that was given to us (and made by) my husband's grandmother for our wedding (it is over our every day used tablecloth). The napkins aren't anything special, except they aren't stained.  And the spoons didn't all match. But when you are sitting with young children, you're the only one who notices. At the top right, you can see the water glass filled with ice water. To the top left, you see champagne glass that has sherbet in it (scooped out with a melon baller). And there is one little chocolate "bar" in the front of the plate. This is a good time to teach your children about where the sliver ware goes, where the glasses go and so on.  Here is a view of the whole table. As you can see, the "centerpiece" is small and simple. It doesn't have to be ornate or grand to make a statement or even to be pretty.  Here is the milk, sugar and "tea pot". I realized that I don't have a tea pot. So, after much thought, I wrapped my glass 4 cup measuring cup in ribbons to make it pretty and to hide the numbers. My daughters thought it looked very cute. I did some research about "afternoon tea" and learned that milk, not cream, is used. This is also good for teaching your children to be creative and to "think out of the box". We don't always need what we want. And more times than not, we need to "make do" with what we have.  We have unmatched wood chairs around our table. Any other time this is fine with me and this is what I prefer. But I wanted something a bit more special for this occasion. So I laid cream sheets over the top of the chairs and wrapped ribbon around the backs. I tied different ribbons according to where people were going to sit (ie: my favorite color is green, so I had the green ribbon. My son's favorite color is blue, so he got the blue ribbon...). The shapes of the chairs are still different of course, but they look a bit more unified. It is not common for little boys to join a tea party. But there is nothing wrong with little boys learning manners too!  As for what we ate, I have already mentioned the sherbet. Here is a bowl of whole nuts that I served as well. Traditionally tea sandwiches, little cakes, scones with clotted cream and the like, are served with your tea. But you don't have to be burdened with that. Use whatever you have. Arrange it nicely, put it in a pretty bowl or plate, and it will work fine. There is nothing fancy about nuts and sherbet. But served and presented in the way that I have shown, gives them a different quality then the every day thing. We talked about the proper etiquette of pouring the tea, putting the sugar and milk into the cups, how we don't hit the spoons on the cups after stirring, but we gently let them "drip dry", how to properly wipe your mouth with your napkin, to not put your elbows on the table... and things like that. Things that we, perhaps, were taught as children, but we haven't always been consistent with teaching our own children (I am so guilty of this one!). We are planning on having a "fancy" tea party with little sandwiches, pastries, scones with clotted cream and other such delights, some time soon with all the other female relatives. I don't care where you are in life, every woman likes to get "dressed up" (by whatever that means to her) and little girls are no different. Let me encourage you to do try this with your children. Make it a home-ec project if you must (although don't make it "school-ish". That takes the fun of it out for them and for you!). Either way, get out the good stuff, put on your thinking cap and have fun with your children! Jennifer Dewing has experience in the restaurant business. She turned in her chef's hat and donned the many hats of a stay-at-home mother 7 years ago. She is now the mother to 5 children, 7 years and under. She home schools her eldest two children. Her husband is a professional chef and in their house, food is a big part of their family. Come visit her at The Days' Dewings Comments 
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