|
Articles | Events | Presentations |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
Why Have TeaTime?Shelley NoonanWhy Have TeaTime? “Grandma, why do you swish the hot water around the tea pot?” I asked. “To make zie pot goot unt hot!” my grandmother answered in her thick German accent. What is there about a pleasant memory from our childhood that lingers and makes its watermark on the future enjoyments of our lives? As a child I delighted in racing eight blocks to my grandparent’s house after school. Inside the 1950’s white cottage with a steep red roof were three people I adored. My grandfather, the stern commandant of the household. My grandmother was a quiet, busy woman who loved her “Shelligan” and Tante, my great aunt, who ran the house. They were well into their 80’s when I was in elementary school and it was such a joy to run all the way to their house in time to have Tea Time at 3:30 p.m. sharp. As I would bolt noisily through the back door, the smell of toasted pumpernickel and cookies would fill the air. The red and white kitchen was a bustle with Tante and Grandma getting Grandpa’s tea ready. He demanded it be exactly on time. He was a “bull headed” German as my mother would say. I would arrive just in time to watch Grandma deliberately swish the hot water around in the tea pot, dump it down the drain, and put some loose tea in the bottom of the pot. I noticed she never measured with a spoon; she just seemed to know the amount of tea needed for each of her various tea pots. At this point she would pour in the hot water and put the lid on the pot. She would place it on the neatly laid out table and call Grandfather to come and have tea. As we sat down and began the daily ritual, they would talk about the day’s happenings, tell jokes and laugh until tears ran down their faces. In their house, children were to be seen and not heard. But I didn’t mind one bit. I loved to listen to their voices. I loved to hear how they rolled their rrrrr’s and had trouble saying other words because of their German accent that never left them. At that moment in time, I was safe, happy and with people I loved. Create A Moment in Time Tea time is one method you can use to create a moment in time for your daughter. Life seems to be so stressful. It is so easy to just do the next thing. But you have a unique opportunity to create a precious memory for your daughter by setting the stage for your mentoring time. Studies have shown that by creating a pleasant environment a greater amount of learning takes place with more ease. Mary Poppins said it well when she told the children under her care “Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down!’ Growing up isn’t all that easy sometimes so tea time was a pleasant event that I used when my daughter was 12 to make the “medicine” of life go down easily. TeaTime was the event and reading and discussing Beautiful Girlhood was the activity. Mother/Daughter TeaTime Tuesday night TeaTime became a weekly ritual when we would make two cups of tea with enough sugar in them to keep our dentist happy and settle ourselves in the quiet living room for our special time together. Every week it was the same, Laura lounging on the couch with her feet in my lap. Her cup of tea cradled in her hands. I would be on the other end of the couch reading our book, and rubbing her feet. Could there possibly be a better way to spend an hour? During this time we were both taught by Mabel Hale about how to be a godly girl. Conversation would flow as we discuss the various points that were made by the author. Questions were volleyed back and forth on what Mrs. Hale meant by that statement or how Laura could put into application another. Five years after our Tuesday Night TeaTime I found a need for another TeaTime. My little girl was one hundred miles away at college. In the fall of 2000 I was revising a beautiful book written in the early 1900’s by Margaret Elizabeth Sangster. It is entitled Beyond Beautiful Girlhood. This lovely book is directed to girls who are 12 and up-20 years of age and places a special focus on making sure your daughter knows how to manage her home, life, and spirit through various projects. I like to call it a “glorified” home economics course. It is home economics and soooo much more! This was the book I wrote to make sure that Laura knew all she needed to know before she embarked on the voyage of her life. Long Distance TeaTime Because it was impossible for Laura and I to spend actual time together, we decided to have a long distance TeaTime. I made a gift box for the occasion containing a special mug, Laura’s favorite lemon tea and a pretty journal and pen that she could use to record her thoughts and mailed it to her. Each week we would cover one of the seven chapters over the phone, discuss what we had read and then talk about what we had written in our journal to reflect on the topics we had just covered. I was relieved to learn that even a long distance mentoring was possible! Tea Time is a highly effective tool to use in your mentoring times with your daughters. Perhaps because it harkens back to a time when life was a slower pace and people had more time for each other. But I think that Tea Time is an occasion that creates a special moment in time when our daughters know they are safe, happy and with a mother who loves them enough to take time and teach them what it means to be a godly women in today's world. Related Products: Totally TEATIME Cookbook Treasuring the Gift of Tea Time Tea Parties for Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, and Friends Seasonal Celebrations Victorian Tea Service Stand Flutterby Mug Back to Articles Page |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||
| ©2007 Pumpkin Seed. All Rights Reserved. | Our Policies | ||
|
|
|||
