AS life returns to normal after the week-long Hari Raya break, another phenomenon is taking shape, especially in urban areas — Hari Raya open houses. This modern-day tradition has proven to promote togetherness and camaraderie among family and friends.
Naturally, we’d want to showcase the best of everything to our guests. This usually means a spotlessly clean house and unique and authentic dishes. It also means best behaviour and manners, both from ourselves and our children.
While it’s not wrong to showcase our best, many times parents make the mistake of putting others first and the family second. There are many lessons from the open house practice that we can reapply so that we can always give our best to our most valuable “guests” — our children.
SERVE YOUR FAMILY THE BEST
Have you seen how some people purchase expensive utensils, only to lock them up in a display cabinet? The only time those utensils are used is when they organise an open house where guests are treated like VIPs. It’s not wrong to use the best utensils for guests. Unfortunately, many would never serve the family the same way. To them, the family only deserves to use ordinary, day-to-day utensils.
Life is too short to eat with ordinary utensils. Let’s take them out and serve our family like royalty. We can serve our guests with the best on special occasions but don’t forget that our family also deserves the best. Make every day a special day by applying that open house spirit. After all, utensils are meant to be used and not kept locked up just to be looked at.
CLEANLINESS ALLYEAR ROUND
The same goes for our homes. We’d never welcome our guests to a messy home, right? During festive periods, people generally ensure that their houses are reasonably neat and clean. Unfortunately, this practice does not seem to be applied during other times. The home starts to get messy and the occupants don’t chip in to create a conducive and peaceful environment.
This is unfortunate because our family deserves better. A neat home is the best sanctuary against external stress. As parents, we need to have a system in place where everyone does his or her part to keep the home neat all year round and not just during open houses.
AUTHENTIC FOOD EVERY DAY
Many people look forward to open houses for a chance to sample authentic dishes. This is often a source of pride to the hosts. They take time to learn, prepare and cook the dishes. Even if the food is catered, they ensure that the menu isn’t an ordinary one. Many go the extra mile to ensure that the food served on that day will be talked about for weeks to come.
Again, it would be unfortunate if the family isn’t able to taste that type of food again until next year. Given their busy schedule and hectic lifestyles, many parents don’t pay much attention to the quality of food their family consumes on a daily basis. Many just pack something from a convenient place or worse, live on a diet of fast food. Even if they manage to find the time to cook, the dishes are simple and fast. I’m not saying that it should be gourmet food every day, but our families deserve more than fast food. It doesn’t even have to be elaborate and elegant. Food cooked with love should be the order of the day.
POLITE WORDS ALL AROUND
Perhaps the greatest mistake parents make is when they reserve compliments and respectable language for everyone except their children. This situation can clearly be seen during this time of theyear when the host strives to make everyone feel welcome with their firm handshakes and warm greetings. But the moment they turn to their noisy children in the background, they lose their cool and start to use harsh words to reprimand them.
We must remember that our children are also our “special guests”. Let’s give them our best treatment, at least the same way, if not better than our open house guests.