Leah just told me a story and I need to pass it on because its hilarious. First let me go over some of the many rules in play at the dinner table. You must eat everything on your plate. You may go for seconds after you ask a teacher but only if the table before you has gone and if the line has not yet extended past the window frame of the first window. (The tables are numbered starting from one.) All second helpings must include 2 portions of vegetables not including potatoes. If the meal is a winner there is often restrictions on portion sizes, I will not get into this though. Each meal must be accompanied with a minimum of one glass of water (milk at breakfast). At lunch there is desert, you must ask to proceed before proceeding. At supper you must go to the fruit table (after asking permission) and take two different pieces of fruit. Seconds of desert are only allowed if you have had seconds of the main course. Thirds are allowed of the main course but that is the maximum. You must remain in the dining hall for 20 minutes before asking permission to leave. If you remain longer than 30 minutes you must take your meal into the kitchen and finish off there, as the tables are beginning to be cleared.
So Leah and I supervise a table, ensuring that all above rules are followed. We also try to teach proper table manners.
This following of rules, especially the ‘scrape your plate completely clean’ rule, can be difficult to follow and even more so to enforce. Who wants to eat yucky veggies? Or potatoes? Staff has it great because it’s self serve so we can pick and choose which delicacies we wish to avoid. The kids get served by the kitchen staff and therefore have no say. However the portions are tiny so their small tummies should be able to handle it all.
So at lunch today I noticed this one little girl named Nkheke (pronounced Nkaykay) peering down her dress and twitching this way and that. I chastised her for improper gymnastics at the table so she stopped. I mentioned this to Leah in passing a short while ago and she started howling. She had noticed Nkheke’s twitching too. She had also noticed a number of small piles of mashed potatoes surrounding Nkheke’s chair. Nkheke had been stuffing her unwanted potatoes down her dress to hide them.
This is why we have rules!
6 comments:
*grin* you should write books, angelina. you tell stories very well:):)
i shoulda thought of that method back in my i-refuse-to-eat-this-it-is-disgusting-i-will-sit-here-in-silence-until-dad-sends-me-to-bed-and-makes-me-promise-to-eat-this-for-breakfast-tomorrow days. *grin*
That's no school - its a prison!
But perhaps there is a loophole in the system. If 'all second helpings must include 2 portions of vegetables not including potatoes', does that mean 1st helpings can omit vegetables and potatoes?
If I were you, I would start digging a tunnel and make a run for the border ASAP
poor Nkheke! She really must hate mashed potatoes!!
Well when you come here we'll be keeping an eye on you to make sure that you don't stuff your unwanted haggis down your shirt!! ;)
Hi Angelina,
I have to laugh, I never had a student stuff their food down their shirts. Maybe I wasn't too perseptive.
It is a little crazy how their eating system works. I mean I agree with eating everything on your plate, but I always thought that if they just gave them a bigger helping in the first place, they wouldn't be DYING to go back to fill the empty void in their stomachs. I mean kids more than anyone are constantly doing something to burn and use up engery.
Hey have you seen any weird thing-a-ma-jigs in the pool yet? What grades/colors are you teaching in swimming.
And with that no more procrastinating, back to school work.
Have a FABULOUS week. Ms. Patton.
Hey Janalina
Just so you know we haven't forgot about you in Brandon.The teaching is going well but you still need to come and teach when you get back.
So have the kids been very cuddly? Because I know that's one area in which you exceed(that seems like an understatement).Haha!
there doesn't seem to be a lot of chocolate in the menu plan....
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