If you learned to eat Continental style, at what age did you start using a knife?

[gatorsmom]

For those of you who learned to eat with the fork in your left hand and knife in your right hand (aka continental style), at what age did you start using a knife? I didn't grow up eating this way. It wasn't until I was a nanny in France (and my host family made fun of the way I ate), that I switched. Nobody else in my family eats this way. When my kids were younger, I didn't give them knives to use because I was afraid they would hurt themselves. But Gator is 8yo now, and I'd like him to start eating in the Continental style, rather than the American style.

Any suggestions?

[hillview]

My 3 year old and 5 year old get knives at the table. On occasion the 3 year old loses privileges. My 5 year old can sort of use a knife with success ...

Wait what is American style vs Continental style??

ETA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_utensil_etiquette

Hummm ... well I think I eat a hybrid style. I will have to consult DH about this -- he is from the UK.
/hillary

[MMMommy]

I'm so old that I can't even remember when I learned!

[Trigglet]

This is one of those classic cultural differences isn't it?! :ROTFLMAO: I'm from across the pond so I eat with my fork in my left and knife in my right, and holding the knife with the handle covered by my closed hand (rather than sticking out between my thumb and forefinger like a pen). This was always a point of table manners (i.e. you could tell people who hadn't been brought up 'properly' because they held their knives like they were pens, or even worse in a a kind of fist!!!)

I do still find the 'American' way of holding cutlery (sorry, 'silverware' ;)) funny, even though I've been here four years - it just seems to take longer if you have to swap hands all the time - perhaps I'm just too greedy and eager to get the mouthful into my face!!!

But that's a tangent, and not answering the original question - I'm slowly introducing my 15 month old to the different items of cutlery, and the knife will probably be last, but we'll definitely stick with the 'continental' way :)

[niccig]

I think I always did, then around 8 or 9, my father really got strict about table manners. I hold my knife differently from others, the end of the knife is in between my thumb and forefinger. My Dad learnt this way in the army, and it was different to how he grew up, my grandmother used to comment on it.

DS is 6.5yo and he can use a knife with somethings. I'm still working on it and how to eat correctly with his fork. He'll stab something and then turn it in his hand so it's like he scooped up the food. It drives me batty. I think I'll work on the fork etiquette first and then move on to the knife.

I'm also a stickler for how he finishes the meal. I expect him to ask if he may be excused, use the napkin for hands/face and then put it neatly on the table. His fork is to go on his plate with the end pointing to 4 or 5 o'clock, and he's to carry his plate and glass into the kitchen.

I don't correct DH, but he's table manners could be better...so I'm making sure DS learns from *me*. I do expect some people will comment on how DS eats differently, for eg. I'm often the only one when we go out wiht friends who has a dirty knife...he'll just have to say "blame my mum."

[octmom]

Interesting. Here's another link for those of us who need a visual: http://www.professionalimagedress.com/dining-etiquette-seminars-eating-styles.htm

I definitely use American style. DH has a weird style that I do not want my kids to mirror! DS is 7 and sometimes uses a knife, but not regularly. DD is 5 and rarely uses a knife. DH usually fixes their plates and cuts food for them before he puts it on the table. He practically minced it when they were younger, but I finally convinced him that was not necessary.

[niccig]

This is one of those classic cultural differences isn't it?! :ROTFLMAO: I'm from across the pond so I eat with my fork in my left and knife in my right, and holding the knife with the handle covered by my closed hand (rather than sticking out between my thumb and forefinger like a pen). This was always a point of table manners (i.e. you could tell people who hadn't been brought up 'properly' because they held their knives like they were pens, or even worse in a a kind of fist!!!)




This is funny, because I do the pen way - Dad insisted and it was from his army training - we're Australian though. No one else I know holds it like that. I think the closed hand is easier and it's how I first learnt to hold the knife, and I'll probably only teach DS that way. I agree that the fist method is not how one holds a knife...

[citymama]

I cannot eat Continental style for the life of me. It's American style or bare hands!

[MontrealMum]

We started giving DS a knife when he was around 3. Our regular flatware isn't terribly sharp so I didn't worry too much about that. He doesn't use it very adeptly, but he does try from time to time.

I do worry though, because we live in a part of Canada where continental style is used, but I use American style because I was raised in the US. To complicate matters, I am left-handed so I don't really even do American style correctly. DH holds his Continental style, but not the full-fledged, eating peas off the back of a fork type like his parents. That is one impressive skill!

I'm not quite sure how to address this with DS because he tends to copy me since he is left handed as well. Because while it looks like he's eating Continental style (fork in left, knife in right) I think that as a lefty he ought to be using the fork in his right and the knife in his left, that it should be reversed? But I don't know for sure. They work on this type of life skill stuff at the daycare but everyone else is a righty so I think he's just copying what everyone else does.

[ellies mom]

I eat continental style. My husband eats the hand switching way. I don't care which way the kids eat because I think it is more of a regional style thing than a manners thing. That said, I show the girls "my way" because it is the way I know but if they adopt my husband's way, I'm not going to worry about it.

We started giving our youngest a knife just before she turned three and I think we gave the older a knife when she was four or five.

[secchick]

I do the Continental style in terms of the way I hold, but use the fork in the right and knife in the left. I suppose the hybrid comes from living in Europe when I was in first grade, which I guess was when I started using a knife.

[brittone2]

My kids haven't adopted a specific "style" yet (DH uses continental, I do not). Both were introduced to using a knife before age 3. They sometimes lost their knife privileges, or needed reminders, but overall they were fine with using it from early on.

[lowrioh]

I do the Continental style in terms of the way I hold, but use the fork in the right and knife in the left. I suppose the hybrid comes from living in Europe when I was in first grade, which I guess was when I started using a knife.

I do the exact same thing. I started eating that way when I was studying overseas and I didn't want to look like an American Oaf.

[bcafe]

For those of you who eat with the fork in the left hand, do you place your right hand in your lap after using the knife? I was taught to keep your non-eating hand/arm in your lap.

[ellies mom]

For those of you who eat with the fork in the left hand, do you place your right hand in your lap after using the knife? I was taught to keep your non-eating hand/arm in your lap.

Normally, you only cut off one piece at a time so it really isn't a non-eating hand. So, instead of "cut cut cut eat eat eat"' it is more of a "cut eat cut eat cut eat".

[AnnieW625]

I think I introduced the knife when DD1 was 3, but closer to 4 than 3.

I hold my knife with my right hand to cut, and will hold my fork in my left hand to hold a piece of meat or bread in place while cutting, but will always eat with my right hand.

My sister eats true Continental style, but that's because she's ambidexterous, but really should be left handed (but no one in our family was left handed so my mom just assumed she'd be right handed so taught her stuff that way; it wasn't until she tried to learn cursive, started dribbling a basketball, and eating with her left hand that they figured she was probably left handed).

[BabbyO]

I cannot eat Continental style for the life of me. It's American style or bare hands!

Me neither...although I've been trying to teach myself off and on since taking a "Miss Manners" class in college where they taught you how to behave during a business meal or interview. I'm glad I took it, too.

I also tried to eat continental style when we went to Greece last year...with some success.

[gatorsmom]

I don't care which way the kids eat because I think it is more of a regional style thing than a manners thing..

I really didn't know that it had anything to do with manners. When I started eating in the continental manner, I realized I can pick up my food more efficiently! I find I'm not chasing peas or rice all over my plate in an effort to pick them up. I can just scoop them onto my fork with my knife. Also, I find it MUCH easier to eat a leafy salad in the continental style rather than the American way of trying to stab everything onto my fork. :)

[gatorsmom]

For those of you who eat with the fork in the left hand, do you place your right hand in your lap after using the knife? I was taught to keep your non-eating hand/arm in your lap.

That's the American style. With the continental style, you are constantly using your knife, so you never set it down and therefore never put your hand/arm in your lap. You are either cutting or pushing food onto the fork with the knife.

As a funny aside, my host family (and I heard this from other friends in Europe) said that they always wondered what people were doing with their hand that was in their lap!