If you wished your tweens cared a little more about which fork to use at a nice restaurant or how to make a great first impression when meeting someone, start by telling them this: Manners are cool.

Once you establish that, learning is easy, said Lisa Zakar, owner of Lisa Rose School of Etiquette.

Lisa Rose and Pagoda Floating Restaurant have joined together to offer an etiquette class with a real-life dining experience to teach kids table manners and basic social skills. Topics covered include first impressions, greetings and introductions, and formal and informal table manner skills.

“If you have good manners in this world, you’ll get good things in return,” Zakar said. Being well-behaved and polite are important for a child’s success in life, she noted.

The etiquette school is part of Lisa Rose Doll House & Tea Room, which has hosted princess and glamour girl birthday tea parties in Honolulu for 20 years.

But this class will be held somewhere that isn’t “too girly,” Zakar quipped, which makes it more comfortable for boys, whom she encourages to attend.

“We all know that boys and girls learn better with their peers,” Zakar said.