So there !!!

Lamb chops for dinner tonight.

We have adopted a rule for use at the dinner table from one of the announcers on the radio station we listen to in the car on the way to school ... "if it has bones in it, you can eat it with your fingers".

However, we have modified the rule to include the addendum "... after you have eaten everything else on your plate" (there's nothing worse than trying to eat with greasy cutlery).

Part way through dinner I notice that S is eating her lamb chop ... with her fingers. So I do the whole "Mummy-wants-you-to-have-nice-manners" spiel and remind her of the "... only after you've eaten everything else on your plate" part of the rule.

As I turn back to my own plate I catch the MOTH's eye ... his guilty, "it-wasn't-me" eye ... as he puts his lamb chop down and goes back to his salad ...

And from the other end of the table comes a small voice "Yeah dad, stop teaching me bad habits !!!"