How to Teach Children Hospitality
- 1). Invite guests into your home on a regular basis. Let children choose friends to invite, verbally or in writing. Host traveling missionaries, speakers, family, friends of friends, battered wives and children, college students and at-risk children and teens. Open your home as a temporary base for people who are relocating and house hunting. Let it be known among your family, friends and acquaintances that your door is always open and you welcome unexpected drop-ins and surprise visits. In other words, set the example of being welcoming and hospitable to all comers, because children learn from what you do more than what you say.
- 2). Ask children to imagine what makes them feel welcome and cared for when they enter a new place for the first time. Anticipate your guests' needs and desires and prepare to provide them ahead of time. A first-time guest may appreciate a short tour to become familiar with where the bathroom or the play areas are, for instance. Show overnight guests where to find towels, extra blankets, food and dishes. Let children fill a basket with toiletries for your guest and place it in the guest room.
- 3). Role play good manners such as how a child should introduce himself, shaking hands, looking people in the eye and remembering names. Practice small talk with adults and other children to demonstrate how to show interest in other people and their needs. Teach them the habit of saying "please" and "thank you," and writing thank you notes.
- 4). Allow children to participate in planning and preparing meals for guests. They can design menus, help shop for ingredients and cook with you. Teach them to clean the house, set the table and do the dishes. Let them serve appetizers before the meal and teach them to offer the food to the guests first before taking any for themselves. Teach good table manners and how to make polite conversation around the table.
- 5). Plan entertainment for the afternoon or after dinner. Let children choose board games, storytelling, singing, dancing or even a scavenger hunt. Including opportunities for fun and laughter in your activity plan for guests makes them feel more welcome and sets them at ease.
- 6). Share with your children any religious motivation you have for encouraging the practice of hospitality. For example, 1 Peter 4:9 instructs Christians, "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling." The story of Abraham entertaining angels in his home in Genesis 18 encourages both Christians and Jews to be welcoming to strangers. Pray with your child, asking God to help both of you serve your guests in a way that demonstrates your faith and brings glory to God.
Source...