Teaching Children to Be Hospitable
Around 1873 Currier and Ives published this Welcome print for Americans to display in their homes.
In 1899 Dr. Robert Stein, a member of the U.S. Geological Survey, began an expedition in the Arctic. While in their winter quarters at their base camp on Cape Sabine on Ellesmere Island, members of Stein’s expedition showed hospitality to these Inuit visitors.
In 1908 the Chinese Navy showed hospitality to the Atlantic Fleet of the U.S. Navy. The Atlantic Fleet presented the Chinese Navy this bowl to show its appreciation.
On March 25, 1919, wounded American veterans of World War I received a joyous welcome in New York City.
In the early 1930s, a family of sharecroppers welcomed the Red Cross Lady to their farm home in Arkansas (photo by Lewis Wickes Hine).
In November of 1941, a nurse welcomed a migrant boy into a Farm Security Administration dental clinic in Caldwell, Idaho (photo by Russell Lee).
In June of 1943, girls at Randolph Henry High School in Keysville, Virginia, learned to plan, cook, and serve meals in their home economics cottage. The students often welcomed guests to their learning activities (photo by Philip Bonn).
Among the first lessons that a child learns about sharing is when he or she must share his toys with other children who are guests in his home. As a child grows, his hospitality involves much more than simply sharing toys.
Hospitality is a matter of the heart. God wants His children of all ages—young and old—to have welcoming hearts, to be people who make others feel welcome in their own homes and in every other place that they have the privilege of interacting with others God has also made in His image.
Observe your children’s behavior when they are with people outside of your family. Do they say hello? Do they say goodbye? Do they participate without dominating? Do they make everyone—close friends and strangers, young people and older people—feel welcome? Do they make everyone feel welcome and not just their favorites? Do they treat their own siblings and parents well when other people are present?
This season of giving and receiving hospitality is a good time to grow our own welcoming hearts and to train those of our children.
In 1 Timothy 5:10, Paul mentions women who have shown hospitality to strangers. The writer of Hebrews tells us.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,
for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
Hebrews 13:2
In Romans 12, Paul includes practicing hospitality in a list of Christian virtues.
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love;
give preference to one another in honor;
not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit,
serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope,
persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,
contributing to the needs of the saints,
practicing hospitality.
Romans 12:10-13
And 1 Peter teaches us a commandment that can be hard to remember when holidays seem to fill our lives with more tasks that we can accomplish.
Be hospitable to one another without complaint.
1 Peter 4:9