At the risk of having my head taken off, why does it appear that many children that appear to come from a more "middle class" background seem to have the ability to sit with their parents/grandparents in a restaurant/pub and be able to hold a conversation and also eat a meal in a proper fashion using the cutlery as it was designed and not with their fingers?
I know that this is a generalization but it is something I have noticed over a long period of time and I can tell by the type of eating venue I go to, in general the more expensive/upmarket the better the table manners and behaviour of the younger generation at the table.
Getting back to the original post the lack of any kind of "device" in these instances is quite noticeable against going to a more "popular venue where it is more common to see the kind of behaviour mentioned already. This is just another indication of the falling family values that have been gradually eroded over recent years, which I fine particularly sad.
I am not in any way saying that more "working class" if there is such a thing people do not have the ability to bring their children up being able to show table manners and the ability to eat out in a proper fashion but in general from my observation they don't.
Ducking now..........