Invitation #29: Invite Your Child’s Teacher to Dinner
As a parent, I’ve always wanted to show our children’s teachers how much we appreciate their care and guidance. One simple way I’ve found to do this, when our children were young, was by inviting them into our home for a meal.
Today, I'm sharing Invitation #29: Invite Your Child’s Teacher for Dinner from my book, Simple Hospitality: An Invitation to Add Kindness to Your Everyday Life. In this excerpt from my book, I share how a casual dinner can open the door to meaningful connection, gratitude, and community. I hope it inspires you to welcome those who shape your child’s life with a little extra warmth and kindness.
I hope you enjoy it!!
Each year, as we began a new school year, I reminded our little ones, “Why don’t we invite your teacher to dinner with our family sometime this year.”
When Michael invited his kindergarten teacher, we had coached him on how to treat his special guest. He greeted Miss Scott at the door with a welcoming smile. He invited her into our home and gave her a tour of his room and special toys. He even pulled out her chair for her at dinner. We wanted him to learn how to be a gentleman from a young age.
I still remember his look of pride as he dined with one of the most special people in his life. This was a perfect time to work on his manners and conversation skills, when it mattered most to him. I loved seeing him treat his special guest with such care, and I think the teacher genuinely felt appreciated by the evening with our family.
Often the teacher would read a book with our children, or the teacher and children might swing on the front porch swing together. They had the opportunity to develop a friendship that would make class time even more special.
After we all finished dessert, Michael walked her out to her car and said, “Good night.” It truly was a good night for us all! I wanted my children to have a deeper understanding of the people they spent time with every day. It was also nice that the teacher got to know our child, a little bit more of his background, and his family life. Is there a teacher in your child’s life that you can invite to dinner?
“When we invite others to be a part of our world, to go deeper in our friendship, the result is always sweet.”
For Anna, we surprised her on her sixth birthday in an unusual way. It was a Saturday morning, and she had hopped in the car on her way to her basketball game. But instead, we slipped a blindfold on her and told her there was no basketball that day. Instead, we were taking her to an unknown location. We had her put on a “party dress” and arrived at a beautiful tearoom. And who was sitting there to meet her but her kindergarten and first grade teachers, Miss Scott and Miss Faust! It was such a fun memory.
When we invite others to be a part of our world, to go deeper in our friendship, the result is always sweet. You will never regret taking the time to plan an unforgettable evening with your children and the special people in their lives!
When Anna graduated, this same teacher, who had married and become Mrs. Tracie Wood, wrote a beautiful letter of encouragement for Anna's senior book. The teacher has been a special gift to our entire family. What started as a fun morning turned into a lifetime of closeness.
Have you ever thought of writing a letter to one of your favorite teachers? I had the surprise of my fourth grade teacher, Mr. Nelson, “finding me” after nearly thirty years! He and his wife had attended our wedding, but then we had lost touch. His wife, Judy, encouraged him to locate me to let me know they still put up a Christmas ornament I had given him many years ago when I was in his class. They sent a picture of it on their tree, “front and center,” as they called it. He wrote me a letter asking if I would mind if he could still call me “Jeffiner,” the nickname he had given me when I was in his class. I sat in the car at the top of our driveway, crying my eyes out, reading his letter and thinking back to those innocent days at Garden City Elementary School. Maybe you can locate one of your favorite teachers or better yet, be blessed with the surprise of your teacher locating you!
I hope you enjoyed this blog post which is an excerpt from my book Invitation #29: Invite Your Child’s Teacher for Dinner, Simple Hospitality, which includes 60 gentle invitations (or chapters) to live with more presence, connection, and joy. To explore all the Invitations, visit the Book page of my website or pick up your own copy today, you can purchase it here.
💌 Want more stories and hospitality ideas like this one? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter I call “Fun Mail,” for encouragement and seasonal tips.