“It’s not more fun than going to the park, but it’s better than karate.” “It’s more fun than karate,” says Avery Griffin, comparing etiquette to their last camp activity. They ask for Mozart’s Concerto for Horn and Orchestra No. They’re acting like kids and they’re having a wonderful time. They are growing more confident with their skills. By the time the nuggets arrive, the children are no longer speaking in hushed tones. Some fingers are used to steer the food to forks. Who would be after just five hours of instruction? A few elbows land on the tables. Last year, we brought in a dance instructor. “I thought we might face some resistance. “I was surprised by the boys,” Richardson says afterward. The boys hold chairs for the girls, some of whom have worn a dress to camp for the first time. The boys wear candy boutonnieres, the girls candy wrist corsages. Her 20-year-old daughter Jodi helps serve. It might as well have been cooked up by a four-star chef. She has also provided the four-course meal, including the soup, a salad, chicken nuggets, macaroni and green beans, followed by a brownie. In the tale, the knife and spoon insist they are “right,” and the forks have “left.” “In the hallway under the light, the silverware were having a fight,” she begins. To teach them about place settings, she tells a story. How do we do things? The etiquette way, the children will answer. The “etiquette way” is the phrase Encapera uses over and over again to make her point. Tyrell, who is shy, has also been practicing looking people in the eye when he is talking to them. On Wednesday, they set the table for their father. Valerie Burke says her 8-year-old sons Tyree and Tyrell Burke were looking forward to the class each day. “She was real excited,” says Peggy Carlton, her mother. She called an aunt in Pittsburgh to share what she’d learned. The day she first learned about place settings, she rushed home begging her mother to cook dinner so she could set the table. They’ll come out of this knowing the basics.” “They won’t retain everything they learn in class, but there are some things they’ll remember. “I wanted to teach them something they may not be getting at home,” she says. That was when Richardson knew she had them. The youngsters were stunned by the array of silverware and plates – but curious to know more. Last year, as an experiment, Richardson took a group of these same children to a tablecloth restaurant. She had seen an advertisement for Encapera’s service, Eti-Kit, and was intrigued. But for an hour each day beginning Monday, they were taught etiquette, as in Emily Post and Amy Vanderbilt. Many are exposed to too much crime and substance abuse, says Treena Richardson, the center’s director, and their families are struggling. In the parlance of the social workers, these are at-risk children. It is a private, non-profit program run by Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries that caters to low-income families. These children, ranging in age from 8 to 13, are attending summer camp at Kidzstuff Child Care on North Avenue. Not one.”Īnd now, Gentle Reader, you are no doubt wondering to yourself: Inner-city kids being taught about salad forks and butter knives, about how to answer the telephone, wear a corsage or greet a stranger? They would be bored stiff you scoff? “Not one of these kids has been a discipline problem. “Rich kids don’t listen as well,” she confides when the four-course meal concludes. It didn’t take long for her to realize that these kids are different. She has never taught in a place like Reservoir Hill. Blonde and trim, she looks like a lady who lunches. She normally teaches etiquette at country clubs and private schools. “When you meet someone, what should you say?”Įncapera, a former elementary and middle school teacher, can only marvel at what she has wrought. Baltimore Sun eNewspaper Home Page Close Menu
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