Today I took DD (3yo) out for breakfast. I asked her to put her napkin on her lap so she wouldn't get her clothes dirty. She looked around the restaurant and pointed out nobody else had their napkin on their lap. She was right and I was surprised. Am I the oddball?
This was Sunday morning breakfast at a cowboy-ish diner in the bay area.
60 votes
eggplant / 11824 posts
Always lap. This isn't something I ever thought to consider "fancy"!
coffee bean / 46 posts
Cloth Napkin in my lap. Paper Napkin on the table to the right of my plate. Although proper etiquette is to place it in your lap and to not put the napkin back on the table until every one is finished with the meal, including if you must excuse yourself during a meal you place the napkin on the chair soil side up.
pomelo / 5866 posts
Usually lap but since I am usually eating at home and still modeling napkin use with LO, I keep ours on the table hoping she will remember to use it more.
nectarine / 2173 posts
I'm one of those people that HAS to have a napkin and it's definitely in my lap. Big pet peeve is eating at someone's house and not being given a napkin.
papaya / 10570 posts
At a restaurant, assuming its a paper serviette, I will probably have wiped E's nose with it before the food even arrives! Pre kids, it would have just sat on the table. At home, I dont use napkins unless I'm holding a dinner party, and then they're only for effect, I wouldn't expect anyone to actually use it (perhaps to wipe their hands of something).
papaya / 10570 posts
@808love: When you say modelling napkin use, what are you doing with it?
I feel really déclassé now!!
pomelo / 5866 posts
@Cherrybee: lol!! LO totally wipes her fingers on the table, chair, anything but a napkin. So I still have to remind how and when to use the napkin. It just doesn't come naturally to her. By using my napkin, I'm 'modeling' and theoretically she will follow by example.
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
I always use two napkins when I can- one for my lap and one on the table. If I can only have one napkin it goes in my lap and I pray it doesn't fall because I don't have a back up. My meal is less enjoyable unless *I know* a napkin is within reach. 
@Cherrybee: what do you use to wipe your hands and mouth with during dinner at home?
@sapphire: same! I always wonder why the napkin seems to be the afterthought? I figure a lot of people use paper towels as a napkin for everyday use (I know we do when we deplete our take out napkin stash) and since buying a new roll is just about as fun as buying toilet paper people try to cut back on paper towel use.
grapefruit / 4361 posts
I almost never use a napkin, either. Now that I am thinking about it, with almost all of my meals, I don't need to wipe my hands or mouth. My meals usually require silverware but they don't have dressings or sauces that get messy.
papaya / 10570 posts
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I just don't get it on my hands and mouth. I use cutlery. I've just checked with my friend, who I'm out with right now, and she doesn't use s napkin at home either......
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
If it's cloth it's always in my lap. Paper out at a "restaurant" (using the term loosely to include diners and fast food) it's probably half and half.
At home I often rip a paper towel in half to use as a napkin as I eat in front of the TV. (If LOs are asleep).
nectarine / 2085 posts
Lap. We use cloth napkins for every meal at home. I guess I sometimes leave paper napkins (when we encounter them out somewhere) on the table within reach, just because they feel like they'll float away or fall off my lap and sometimes they're so small there isn't much chance of them actually catching a crumb!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
In my hand. I'm terrible about crumbling napkins into nothing. If it's cloth at the end of the meal it's really wrinkled.
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
On my lap, but it's not opened up to cover my lap. Just sits there or under my lap so it doesn't fall off when I reach over to help feed DS.
pomegranate / 3231 posts
I have yet to meet the paper napkin that will stay on my lap for more than sixty seconds before slipping off to the floor. So I improvise with paper napkins. If you want me to use proper etiquette, then give me a proper napkin!
My napkin almost always goes to my lap if it's cloth. These days, it sometimes winds up back on the table if it gets too gross from wiping up after my 2yo. Sometimes there is just too much ketchup flying around the table.
nectarine / 2173 posts
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: we use cloth at home so we can reuse. It does seem like a lot of people use paper towels though.
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
@sapphire: fancy! I use cloth when we have company over.
@Cherrybee: you are like an Unicorn to me. 
I only know one of other person that ate that neatly her napkin never left her lap.
squash / 13199 posts
I leave it on the table unless it's a really fancy dinner and everyone else has it on their lap
coconut / 8472 posts
Always on my lap at restaurants. Next to my plate at home though. I always have a packet of saline wipes in my purse and I use those on DS when we're out.
clementine / 995 posts
If it is a cloth napkin it always goes in my lap. Cheap paper napkins usually are on the table by my plate. If I try to put a cheap paper napkin in my lap it usually ends up on the floor.
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
Like a big cloth one at 'fancy' restaurants right? Haha. If so, lap. I voted table thinking about disposables lol.
pomegranate / 3658 posts
At restaurants, cloth napkin is on my lap. At home, there has never been a napkin inside our house in 7 years living here. We don't really do finger food - everything is cutlery; so our hands and mouths stay clean.
My parents are big into paper napkins and always ask, and DH and I are usually like "uh I think we have some paper towels if you really want?...." I haven't noticed anybody else using paper napkins at home. Kind of figured it was a generational thing.
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