懂礼的孩子

"有教就有, 没教就没有"-- Teach me and I shall know.

Every parent of young children should know and believe in this Chinese phrase.. because it is a plain fact. Besides just being a plain fact, to some parents serious in the parenting business, it is a harsh fact.

As Chinese, i felt fortunate to be able to inherit traditional moral values from my ancestors. From filial piety to humility (八德- 孝、悌、忠、信、礼、义、廉、耻) and many more that form the foundation of our character. Talking about filial piety, there's a recent national campaign on this-- a multi-million dollar short film was produced and aired on TV and cinemas. (Marpig, if you haven't seen it, do catch it on youtube.)

I've no idea how this happened. But is definitely heartening to us. Zhirui at her tender age of 22 months has started to reciprocate her love and graciousness. When I tell her that Mummy's hands are tired after carrying her for a while, she would initiate to get down and walk on her own. She would pick vegetables for us on the dining table, massage Gong gong's back and serve him water when he visits our place.

One evening we were at Ye ye's house and ye ye brought her a packet of biscuits. I told her that to let everyone else have a piece of biscuit first before taking one herself. She did it and we praised her. From then on, she seemed to learn the virtue of placing others before herself. Whenever we bought goodies, Zhirui would remember to offer us one before eating.

On another occasion, we were in the lift and suddenly Zhirui said something. I didn't understand it that instant. Then after repeating the sounds, i realized it is, "No jumping on the lift. Can jump on the floor." "Ohh.. yes you are right Zhirui! No jumping on the lift. Can jump on the floor" My face was written all over with shock and joy!

Then one time, Zhirui caught me red-handed for not walking the talk. We were preparing to have our meals. Think Daddy brought Zhirui to wash her hands. And when we all sat down at the table, Zhirui blurted, "Mummy forget to wash her hands." I wish i could dig a hole and hide myself.. hahaha.. Even sb was laughing at me.

真的是 "有教就有, 没教就没有"!