I'm not talking about web hosting (though maybe one day I'll discuss that too), I'm talking about a "host" as in having folks over to your house.

Parenting can be a really good start. Let's face it, you get lots of practice asking kids if they'd like something to eat or drink. You even ask them if they need to go potty. Okay, that may be more than you want to inquire with an adult guest. But the point is, kids can help keep your hosting skills sharp. Let me go further with this...

Even though you might feel the urge to yell when your child spills milk at the table (for the 57th time!), it rarely is a good idea. I think the practice of resisting the urge to yell at the table (or at any time) is good for having guests over too -- You'll never find yourself screaming at a guest who spills a bit of wine. Nice bonus, 'eh? Now let's go a bit further shall we?

My pals TQ and Les have three kids with their two youngest being twins and just a few months older than my daughter. The girl's name is a homonym to my daughter's nickname: Abbey. And her brother is Jake. Jake weighs a bit more because he's got an extra chromosome in each and every cell; It's called Down Syndrome, knucklehead. Unless I explained it wrong in which case I'm the knucklehead. I'll assume you're the knucklehead for now, just to keep things simple.

While I have to remember three meals per day for the kids, I don't have to remember to offer snacks between meals, because they will ask me. But Jake rarely does so when he's at my place I have to *remember* to ask him if he'd like something to eat. Otherwise he'd cruise along and never ask while his tummy plays the terrible tune of hunger. Abby and Abbey might ask me for some yogurt and Ben may ask for crackers (usually candy as his first request which is denied quickly most of the time) but Jake will be busy playing with a Dora game or some such. So I've got to put it in my head to ask him. See how the training comes into play? And it's free! The only cost is finding a cool person who is willing to share their Down-Syndrome-enabled child; It's not hard to find them and most of them would love a bit of time to themselves while you get your training. Go find someone today and be a better host tomorrow!