Brace Yourself

I grew up hearing the same thing every night at the dinner table. Get your elbow off the table, don’t talk with your mouth full and don’t chew with your mouth open. One of my mother’s favorite lines was put some food in your mouth and don’t talk with your mouth full. That was her way of saying that she wanted us to shut up and eat our dinner.

I remember, a few years ago, having lunch with Matt at school. I noticed that most of the kids at the table ate with their mouths open. I thought it was pretty gross and could not understand how so many kids from such great families did not have manners enough to eat with their mouths closed. I figured it out fairly quickly. Soon after, Abby got her braces and started eating with her mouth open. I remember chastising her one night about this and she explained to me that it was due to the braces. She said it hurt her mouth to eat with her mouth closed. Most of the kids at that lunch table had braces so it all made sense to me.

Matt has had the same affliction for the last couple of years. I can’t stand to be around him when he starts chewing on a stick of gum. Over the years I have learned to be a bit less sensitive to this.

Well we have reached yet another milestone. Matt got his braces off today. I can now resume my parental torment and every night tell him to chew with his mouth closed, until it once again becomes habit.

Now if I could just come up with some logical reasoning that requires him to have his elbow on the table maybe I can cure that also.