a question about guests with kids

amother

Wed, Oct 29 2008, 5:01 pm

I'm having guests, including children ranging from about age 5-7. Is it appropriate to serve these kids on china plates or should I serve them on corelle or plastic?

Silly question, I know, but I don't have older kids yet, so I have no idea what is appropriate. Your help would be much appreciated!

mummiedearest

Wed, Oct 29 2008, 5:06 pm

ask the mother. I think it's perfectly fine if you serve them with plastic, but you could ask if the mother will mind.

chanagital

Wed, Oct 29 2008, 5:09 pm

Most moms wouldn't have a problem if you brought out the paper goods.... we all know kids are not so careful with china why give yourself a heart attack. If the child is over the age of 9 I would ask the parent.. or even the child what they want.

BennysMommy

Wed, Oct 29 2008, 5:10 pm

Every child is diff. I would think most children that age would be okay with a regular plate but I can be wrong. My son is okay with a reg plate and he's only 2. He won't pick it up at all. He knows not to. On the other hand, a glass can fall from his hands by mistake, so I'm more careful about those.
You can always ask the mother when they get there. It's not a big deal to switch a plate or 2.

yo'ma

Wed, Oct 29 2008, 5:29 pm

I use real dishes on shabbos and all my kids get real ones, but instead of the big one, I give them the fish plate. It's bigger than a teacup plate and smaller than a regular plate. I give them those because they eat so little, they don't need anything bigger.

You say that you don't have big kids yet, but how old are your kids? Do they sit by the table and what do you give them? If you give them plastic, I think it's perfectly fine to give the other kids plastic, too. 5 and 7 is still little Wink

montrealmommy

Wed, Oct 29 2008, 5:37 pm

in our house, china is for over bar/bas mitzvah only (it's an heirloom and I am very very overprotective of it) - but kids who can properly sit and eat at teh table get real plates and cutlery - and I too serve kids on salad/fish plates (myslef too, it helps with the diet!) - kids who either don't eat properly or are in highchair get plastic!

Mrs Bissli

Fri, Nov 28 2008, 4:39 am

For kids that age group, I would use plastic plates. We have inexpensive colourful
ones, instead of disposable styrofoam.

A slightly separate question when having guests with kids...
Do the children sit at the adult's table, or do you set up a separate children's table?
I'm talking about pre-bar/bat mitzvah, age group 5-10 when they can eat meals
unassisted but too young to stay for the whole meal/too young to join adults conversation.

drumjj

Fri, Nov 28 2008, 5:16 am

I always put the kids on the table with the adults but it depends how many it is if they fit on the table with u and how big ur table is. also I give china but I have a rubbish cheap set which still looks nice and an expensive set so I would give the cheaper set to the kids usually

Chocoholic

Fri, Nov 28 2008, 6:47 am

I don't see what's wrong with it - unless you want your special china to be used as a Frisbee.

Raisin

Fri, Nov 28 2008, 7:14 am

Mrs Bissli wrote:

if there are more than 2 or 3 kids, I try and put them at the end of the table, otherwise you end up with empty table syndrome.

yo'ma

Fri, Nov 28 2008, 7:29 am

This is not really what to put on the table, but more where the children sit. Now, what I'm saying is second hand because I wasn't there Crying

. At my nephew's shabbos bar mitzvah most of my sisters and brothers went with their children. Friday night was a bit crowded by the table and since the little kids sat for 2 seconds, my mother (she was setting the table) decided that the kids don't get a seat during the day meal because they don't sit anyway. When they came back from shul and saw that they didn't have a place to sit, they were very upset. My mother told them why, so they said that they'll sit. They sat the whole meal LOL

. I'm not exactly sure which ages did this, but I'm assuming 5 and older.

willow

Fri, Nov 28 2008, 7:45 am

Raisin wrote:

Mrs Bissli wrote:

if there are more than 2 or 3 kids, I try and put them at the end of the table, otherwise you end up with empty table syndrome.

my husband and I both agree that we hated hated being put at the "kids: table when we were guest.