One mom asks, "I feel like there are so many rules that my kids should learn about table manners that we'll never figure them all out. Which ones are really important?"

"You will need to decide what manners are important to you and your family and help your children learn them to a level with which you're comfortable," says Lauri Berkencamp, co-author of Teaching Your Children Good Manners (Nomad Press, 2001) and mother of four. "Decide what would make mealtimes most enjoyable for all of you, and practice manners that will help get you there. And don't try to conquer Rome in a day or even a year. Good table manners are learned over time. It's a process."