The Manners Pig #2

I was thrilled to see the manners pigs cousin on the blog and had to show off the Stacy family version. A few years back I found this metal pig at Marva's (the best-and by best I mean cheapest- resale shop in the world) for a quarter! I immediately thought of the manners pig and so I had to have it (after all, it was only a quarter).

When I brought it home and told the kids about it they loved the idea so we put it on the table. The kids thought it was great fun to cause the manners pig to face them and so instead of encouraging good manners it was having the opposite effect. I decided to put the manners pig away and although we would pull it out every once it awhile it never really became a permanent fixture on our table. Fast forward to June 2008.

We were packing to move 1160 miles away and we planed to take only what would fit on a 6x10 foot trailer. We got rid of stuff most people would think of a essentials (the couch, table, washer/dryer). We moved with pretty much NO furniture and my theory when it came to smaller items (kitchen utensils, shower caddies, bath toys) was if we can replace it at Dollar Tree then it does not go on the trailer. I was pretty ruthless but some how I could not seem to part with the manners pig that we never used.

But wouldn't you know that when we unpacked in SW FL one of the kids put the manners pig on the plastic folding table we were using and we have pretty much used him every day. Also since the kids are older now they think it is much more fun to catch whoever is across the table from their sibling using bad manners so that his butt is facing his/her brother or sister! Also whoever the manners pig is facing at the end of the meal has to clear the table. So their manners are actually getting a little better.