It only took a few minutes to prepare and yet it made my daughter’s day.
Our two boys were off to a tractor show for the day, and just the girls were at home with mama and papa (my husband is self employed which is why he was home). I promised them a tea party for breakfast. After getting my boys out the door I quickly made some biscuit cinnamon rolls for breakfast. While they were cooking I pulled out our tea sets. The girls got to use my smaller tea pot which I filled with chocolate milk for them. My husband and I used the larger tea pot with orange juice. A nice tablecloth, some flowers I already had in a vase and tea cups quickly went on the table.
In 10 minutes I had a lovely table setting and some excited little girls. We gathered around the table and helped our three year old pour her chocolate milk into her tea cup. You could just sense her excitement over being a big girl and getting to use these lovely items.
As we ate I tried to keep the conversation focused around our daughter, asking her questions about her favorite colors, if she wanted to grow up and get married, have children, ect. My husband took the opportunity to try and convince her it would be lovely to stay at home with daddy all her life. He is already almost in tears at the thought of his little girls getting married!
To think that something so little made our daughter feel so special. As a mama of a new baby and lots of little ones the thought of doing elaborate tea parties and fancy luncheons is overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be hard. Simple food tastes extra good when on a china plate, and really the extra effort is mainly in hand washing the dishes afterwards. The amount of joy it brings to little children is priceless. And it’s not just girls that love tea parties – my boys really enjoy them also!
It’s the little things that our children will remember when they are grown. The times when we slowed down from our busy lives and actually took time just for them and poured ourselves into them. I have to remind myself of this constantly, and carve out those moments in the day to stop and spend that special moment with a child, tell someone I love them, stop and read a book to the toddler who needs a moment with mama.Being a mother can be demanding, especially during the years with little ones, but the effort we put into it will be repaid many times over when we see godly young men and women before us one day.
Would you like to start having tea parties with your daughter? Here are some lovely resources:
Yummy Natural Tea
Beautiful Tea Sets for your Daughter
Lovely Tea Sets for Mama