Brainstorm

Coming from a French family, I know the 'finish your plate' all too well. Or, knew it. These days, my dad envies my ability to eat exactly as much as I want, whether it leaves half a plate, or half a potato. It feels much healthier. 'Don't play with your food' I never thought of, but it's so clever! But 'don't laugh' seems absolutely awful. The emotional version of the Victorian little girls already being deformed by corsets...
Children need to be children. Thanks for reminded me that this counts at the diner table, too.

how horrible. you don't need to have kids to make dinnertime a fun enjoyable experience that connects people- and laughter is a big part of that

"Oh, you won't like THAT!" (from a parent when a new food is seen) -- breeds fear and aversion of the new, and a stifling of expanding your comfort-zone. Or, for me and my husband (who were both constantly told this as children,) a fear and aversion of the balogna-and-Velveeta that so delighted our parents, and a stifling of our wanting to eat with them, because we've both become very adventurous, multi-ethnic-food-type eaters, and we think what they eat is craaaaaaap (my mother-in-law wanted KFC for Christmas the other year -- we haven't been back since!)