When the Queen comes for dinner

I'm sure most moms are familiar with this scenario:

You are getting a meal ready for your family who are all "patiently" sitting at the table. You dish your kid's food first so you and your hubby's food is more likely to still be warm. When you finally sit down to eat your children are done with their plates and are handing them back to you to be refilled. 

This was the case for us for awhile. I don't know why, but it took my a while before I started telling me kids they had to wait until I was done with my food before I would get them seconds. Abiah was really good at this. He would watch me closely and right when I put my last bite in my mouth he would try to hand me his plate as he asked for more. So pleasant.

After awhile I decided to have they kids just wait until we were all sitting before they began eating. This way they were at least occupied while we were eating and we weren't spending most of our meal trying to keep them seated.

While I really liked this idea and it seemed to help, the kids then began asking over and over and over whether they could begin eating or not. Because apparently they couldn't tell if and when we were all seated. So I recently decided to do a little teaching/story telling while we were eating.

"Hey, guys? Do you know that when a Queen is having a meal in her castle and everyone is sitting at the table ready to eat, they all have to wait until the Queen takes her first bite before they can start eating? That means that when the Queen takes her first bite everyone knows they can start eating."

They all mumble comprehension through food smeared mouths.

I continue, "How about we do that here at our house. We can even take turns being the Queen!"

So far the "game" has stuck and made a little bit of an etiquette imprint on my children's lives. The only time they didn't like playing the game was when they decided it was daddy's turn to be the Queen and he kept putting food to his mouth and then setting it back down without taking a bite. He hasn't been asked to be the Queen since.

The little princesses coming for tea.

How do you encourage good manners in your home? Any tips?