Tea Party

Tea parties are not just for girls.  Every so often my boys ask to have one and so we get out the old tea set that my grandmother made for me when I was a little girl.  The thing that makes a tea party a success for a little guy is to have lots of food options.  I like to use a tea party as a tool for learning good manners.  The boys know that if I go to the effort to cut up all those little tea sandwiches or make tiny cakes, then they have to go to the effort of being courteous the whole time.  And speaking in British accents.  Common conversation may go something like this:

Me: Would you care for more tea, sir?
Child: Oh, yes. I'd like some very much please.
Me: Cream? Sugar?
Child: Yes. Just one lump for me please.
Me: And how is your mother doing?
Child: Oh, very well. Thank you for asking. How is your mother?
Me: She is well. Thank you. I think we're enjoying very nice weather today.
Child: I agree, very nice weather indeed. Would you please pass the apple slices?

It's a fun time.  We eat plenty, mind our manners, take turns, practice polite small talk, and I try to throw in a little cultural or geographical information about England (or other places around the world) while I'm at it.  Usually our tea parties turn into some extended pretend play in which we might leave the table to fly to India in our airplane that the kids have made out of all the dining room chairs and the pillows from my couch-or some such thing.  But that's all well and fine with me.