The twins are 2-1/2 years old and now that they're toddlers, I'm beginning to encourage and introduce some new table manners into their little repertoire. Currently, I have two main goals that I'm working on with Paige and Taylor during mealtimes:
First - Teaching them to say "please" and "thank you" consistently during mealtimes. I've also added "May I be excused, please" when they're ready to get down from the table. When prompted and asked of the girls if they are ready to leave the table, they will simply say "excuse me, please" to which I say back to them: "Yes, and I'm so proud of you for being such big girls."
Second - Reprimanding them for any deliberate poor behavior at the table. And, "deliberate" is the key word here. For example, dropping a spoon on the floor is no big deal but deliberately throwing a spoon down on the floor during one of their toddler temper tantrums is another story.
Teaching twins table manners is challenging, as I'm sure it is for all young toddlers whether you are dealing with one child, two, three or more children at a time. One thing I'm convinced of however is that the earlier that we can prevent bad table manners with the girls, the better and easier our lives will be.
One parent of twins sums it up nicely as follows: "Bad table manners in toddler twins can be doubly tough and doubly humiliating out in public so it behooves you as a parent of twins to address this issue early on."
Well said.