Tea is a garden for the human spirit to flower, a place of Gentle Influence, a place to Create Memories.

Afternoon Tea is a perfect little garden to cultivate beautiful relationships. It is a great way to build time together with children and grandchildren! It provides a special time focused on them.

There are many ways to do this. You can provide tea for children, or explore tea together. This could be learning to make tea sandwiches or baking muffins together; it could also be training young ones how to set the table or how to have a conversation around the table with others.

You can have special occasion teas, maybe a princess birthday tea party—or an UNbirthday party! Tea is a lovely way to create a sense of wonder and spark imagination—in all of us! Little girls and little boys all love the specialness of tea—using the little sugar tongs, asking “one lump or two?”, using the small spoons, learning how to pour the tea with one hand on the lid.

You can use tea parties as a fun way to teach something like table manners or social etiquette. This will be a special memory for them—and they might even remember some of the etiquette lessons. If not, the most important thing has happened: there has been a time of bonding. A little more glue has been added to cement the relationship.

“I am not only responsible for my life, but for its influence.” ~John Henry Jowett

These are the questions: How might I cause the lives of those I love to flourish and thrive? How might I use tea to grow deeper relationships with the children in my sphere? 

Tea is a perfect little garden to cultivate beautiful relationships with children.

Yours for the return of Grace, Civility, Beauty, Gentility, and Excellence,

Mary Alice Higbie