in my prek class we go hard on manners the first couple weeks. i eat lunch (and sometimes breakfast) with 18 four year olds five days a week. a lot of times they don't like what i'm eating (or what their classmates are eating). at the beginning of the year, they say things like, "that's disgusting!" "that looks like throw-up!" "is that poop?" "your food is sick!"
so, i teach them that it's more polite to say, "i don't care for broccoli." "i don't really like tomatoes." "i am not a fan of humus." "i've never seen food that looks like that before."
we also learn the "magic words." ("please" and "thank you.")
so, the other day i was eating tomatoes for lunch and a little boy named J said, "DISGUSTING! i HATE tomatoes!"
i said, "oh, J! remember, manners! what's more polite?"
to which J said, "i hate tomatoes................please?"
