My husband is so smart. After hearing me complain about how our 9 and 12 year old boys are constantly getting food stains on their clothing during meal times, he really came up with a brilliant idea. He made several sets of napkin/bib clips just like the dentist uses. We now make sure that the boys have a large paper napkin fastened around the neck at meal times.
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When you need to protect your clothing while eating, use a towel with binder clips as a "bib".