Guest Hosting Etiquettes

Today I had to play the role of an entertaining host...There were many guests, from the family circle who came to visit me.

The art of guest hosting requires a lot of compromises...you wud hav to forsake a lot of your conventions say, the ppl who come to see u are brought up in different backgrounds and wud have a lifestyle entirely different from yours....u wud hav to compromise with the etiquettes and manners dat you are used to,  to treat them well.

The greatest trouble was, my little one watching these scenes with wide open eyes. Seeing the guest putting her legs on the sofa was quite a wonder to him. Perplexed, he asked: "Amma, u always scold me when I put my legs on sofa. Now y are u keeping mum. Here, scold aunty".
My face turned pale, not only bcoz he was breaking the unwritten rules of hospitality but also bcoz I lacked words so as to explain it to him before the guests. I turned pale, and gazed at my husband for help. For him it was simple. He gave a scorching look at the kid and a growl..."Go and play. What are kids doing here where elders r talking".

However even after the guests left, I kept on thinking about this.  What wud hav been the best way to save the situation? How shud I hav explained it to the kid, with credibility and without hurting the feelings of our guests. Or was it that, like Shakespeare says...Life is a drama and we are at times entitled to add some drama to some of our daily life situations like what my hubby did...