Do you use a knife and fork to eat with and if so do you place the fork in the right hand prongs upright and shovel food into your mouth?
Do you open a door for someone, perhaps as a gent you open the car door for a Lady. When you see an elderly person on public transport would you offer them your seat?
It seems that as a nation we are abandoning tradition, giving up being courteous and practicing what were considered to be good table manners, it was suggested widely in the media last year that as many as 30% of under 20s cannot use a knife and fork. Does it matter? or is it progress.
Times have changed.
Sitting round a table having formal meals together has become a thing of the past for a lot of families especially where both parents work full-time.
I guess it's hard to keep your cutlery etiquette on fleek when you're all squashed up on the sofa watching the news 
@fallen-archie wrote:Oh yes I forgot the all endearing TV, beats the carp out of Talking
Out of sheer boredom, my son's friend was forced to go downstairs and socialise with his familly when his internet went down for a prolonged period of time.
Apparantly he noted afterwards on Facebook that they were actually quite nice people LOL
Manners and etiquette make social occasions run smoothly and avoid awkwardness so children should learn the basics, however that could be difficult as few families eat together and if the parents aren't aware themselves, which is a pity because it could serve them in good stead in the future. Good manners will get you in anywhere.
My father tended to sit sideways at the table just using his fork and I do much the same but not in company. 
As for opening doors, a German woman who had spent a couple of weeks in London, walked straight in to a closing door while leaving a shop because she had got so used to the person in front holding the door for the one following them.
Something they don't seem to do in Berlin.
I taught my kids how to use a knife and fork properly from a very early age, just like I did. Having said that the English could argue that the Dutch hold their forks the wrong way round, so different cultures do use their cutlery often in a different way. My kids learned both ways in our case.
Americans first cut up their meat and then eat their food mainly with just a fork.
My argument was always that you will never know where you end up in life and you might need to be able to adjust to the company you keep.
Some young people who eat at my table so now and then eat with their knife and fork in the "wrong" hands. Some hold their knife as if they still have to kill the meat on their plate. 
They will say they can't do it any other way. So did my kids when they were four..................until they were taught over and over again. Practice makes perfect...............
I was taught the "old fashioned" way and don't see anything wrong with good manners. I can move in any circle and fit in.
I made my kids sit at the table and not watch TV while eating. It did happen so now and then that they were allowed to eat with their plate on their lap if they were in the middle of watching a good film (before the time we could pause the TV), but it wasn't a habit. Some people have no space in their house for a dining table, so have no choice although they could turn the TV off.
The reason for me was that it created time for the family to chat together and talk about their day. When everyone goes off to their own rooms to eat or sit in front of the TV it can cause a lack of communication within a family especially with teenagers.
Mobile Phones were also not allowed during dinner time. I find nothing more annoying than people who have to look at every text they get and are texting back while we are in the middle of a conversation. I find it pretty ignorant. They will say they are listening, but when you ask them to repeat what you said last they most of the time can't.
Another thing I hate is when you visit people and they keep the telly on, watching it with one eye while talking to you. When I get visitors and the telly is on I will turn it off. I think it is disturbing during a conversation. I think it is just good manners to focus on your visitors. They came to see you, not watch the TV.
Yes we live in changing times, very true and we should embrace it, but some of it has killed good communication with others and that is not such a good thing. People hardly look someone in the eyes anymore when they talk. Half of them are so scatter brained that they often change the subject half way because they just can't keep focus on one topic anymore.
I will always keep eye contact with everyone I talk to. It first of all makes them feel I'm really listening and by doing so I will also pick up on emotions that their words are not telling me.
Letting people finish their sentence is also going out of fashion. One of my daughters will often say that she knows what I'm going to say anyway, but she doesn't half of the time and then reacts before she has heard it all, creating sometimes arguments and confusion. She always butts in, something I have tried my best to stop since she was small, but she still does it and so do all her friends. They talk right through each other. It drives me mad. Sometimes they lose track and then they look at me and ask what they were saying last. Then I have to remind them what they were on about....because I was actually LISTENING!
I taught my kids to stand up for older people in waiting rooms and pubic transport and help others when they can see that they are struggling with things, like heavy doors or things on higher shelves in the shops etc....
For them it is normal to do all that. Sadly also that is going out off fashion.
So are good manners being replaced with ignorance and selfishness?
Thanks Lola.
I have the same issue with littering.
I remember standing near a road and a woman had just bought a bag on the market. Most of them are stuffed with paper when we buy them. She took all the paper out, stuffed it all in the bushes behind her as if that was a perfect normal things to do and then got on the bus. The litter bin was about 5 meters away from her! I just couldn't believe my eyes. 
I have seen plenty of adults eating their take away food r drinks and drop the packaging on the street as soon as they were finished with it. Why? Is it so difficult to hold it until you come across a bin? It's no wonder that kids just repeat what they see.
I'm also always saying sorry to others, when people bump and/or walk into me even though they could have easily avoided it by using their eyes. My husband told me to say it differently..."Oh sorry am I in your way?" I'm not sure if people would get the message to be honest. Most don't even get the sarcasm. Maybe they will just say.."yes you are!"
Spacial awareness is another thing that seems a thing of the past. Like people having a chat with others while blocking an exit/entrance or isle at the shops. Totally oblivious of other shoppers around them. I so hate shopping!
Maybe I'm just becoming a grumpy old woman.
My old mum can come out with things that are very racist at times and make me cringe. She is 84 and it is pointless to try to change her. I have tried.
I got a bit more assertive over time. If people haven't heard my few friendly "sorries" when they are in the way nowadays I say very loudly "Excuse Me!" as if they are deaf. I'm losing my patience as I get older.
When I did it once when I was with my eldest daughter she said "mum!" As if I was the one being ignorant. 
It wouldn't have been so bad if she wasn't the snapper of the family.
But for her it's different of course.........................................Mums should behave themselves.
I will remind her one day.............................................
My mum isn't homophobic, but it's the way she speaks about them that is still not always very PC and she makes a lot of generalisations and assumptions. She just doesn't realise it. She actually knows a gay couple in her neighbourhood that she is very friendly with and when she had been to their house once she said, "well it was a lovely house of course, full of antiques, as you can expect, their food was lovely and the whole ambiance was perfect. But you always get that with gays"
My best mate is gay, but she resembles none of the above. Her house is a mess and she can't cook a decent meal to save her life. No point telling my mum this, as she will say that the male gays are different than the female ones in that respect.
And she does this with different races as well. Still often referring to people of a different skin colour as "those blackies". She lived in Indonesia in the early 50s for a couple of years and it still stems from those days.
