Aziah Jasmin teaches young tots table manners

ONE four-year-old lifted his cereal bowl and drank up the contents with a loud slurping sound. Another, obviously too hungry to wait for his friends, went ahead with his cereal, and finished with a loud burp.

Of course, there were spills, which came about when an over-eager child moved his cereal bowl too quickly and sloshed out a big puddle of milk on the table.

Aziah Jasmin Azizul, a former TV3 presenter turned image consultant, showed that she had her job cut out for her at a workshop on table manners at Tadika Sinar Indah in Ampang recently.

The attractive 36-year-old took it all in her stride, thanks to her six years of experience in the line.

“You have to be realistic with children when it comes to dining etiquette. You cannot expect them to behave as perfectly as adults,” she said, with her signature infectious laugh.

This she explained, was due to the fact that children’s motor and coordination skills were yet to develop as much as an adult’s.

Listen up: Manners are very important at the dining table, insists Aziah, an associate member of the Association of Image Consulting International.

In the class of 10 children aged between four and six, Aziah started off with the basics such as saying “please” and “thank you”.

There were also reminders to refrain from making noise such as banging cutlery and plates or talking loudly. The children were also reminded to keep their elbows off the table and say “excuse me” in the case of a faux pas like burping.

Then came the real test. The children were asked to set their places with mats, napkins, cutlery, plastic plates and cups. The little diners were reminded to tuck in their napkins in case of spills.

A miraculous show of compliance was made possible, in part, by a reward of Hershey’s Kisses every time a task was executed correctly.

“Some parents have complained that children don’t listen when it comes to table manners, but when I do the course, the children listen to every word,” said Aziah.

However, she added that it was typical of children to be difficult when it came to obeying instructions. She attributed this to psychology and insisted that consistent repetition and love were the surest ways of ensuring a child learned good manners.

As for her workshop, she said it was a learning experience aimed at improving a child’s personal development skills.

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According to Aziah, the ability to manoeuvre through an array of cutlery and the know-how of preparing simple table decorations, finger foods and drinks increased their confidence in the social arena.

To put this across, Aziah will take children aged seven to 17 years through a fine-dining workshop at The Royal Bintang Damansara in November.

They will experience a five-course menu in Chinese, Indian and Malay dining styles via the two-day workshop.

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