Over protective? Table Manners?

Last Sunday, was out having dinner with my in laws. The usual participants, my parents in laws, my sister in law & her 2 children.

We went to the Pu Tian Restaurant at Vivo City. The place is small and in order to max their seating capacity. There re no room to maneuver, a little shift of your chair might just hit the person sitting behind you!

As usual, Pirate King's niece wants to play with Piglet and she chose to seat herself besides me. But my MIL wants to carry Piglet so Piglet was transferred from the baby chair to her arms. So his niece, L went over to the other side. My SIL stopped L and told her to play with Piglet when Piglet has finished her milk. I was quite surprised by her move. My SIL is liked a big stone, oblivious to anything around her... That includes her 2 kids! On 2nd thought, she might have seen me smacking Piglet for not drinking her milk properly.

So L has no choice but to go back to her seat! And in the course of our meal, L 's table manners are simply atrocious. She will use her spoon to poke our dishes and the adults simply let her be without letting her know that its rude to do that. Then, her rice grains are scattered all over the table and not to mention always requesting for extra food whereby she still has not finished those in her bowl! I was utterly shocked by her table manners as L goes to a childcare centre and they teached the children table manners!

After we finished our dinner, we went out and there are ample space for children to run about. My MIL kept on shouting at my SIL children not to run about as the ground is rough and stuff. This thought went on in my head, "Ain't kids at their age supposed to run free, fall down and learn about it?" When my MIL finished shouting, it was my SIL turn to shout for them.

I related these to my Mum and we reached one conclusion, "Whatever the children turn out to be, it s all the work of the parents!"

Being a Mother now, i can thoroughly understand the pain & efforts that my Mum took to raise the 3 of us up. And looking at my hubby's niece & nephew, I must ensure that i teach Piglet the right values and table manners!