五育

Was listening to radio Capital 95.8 yesterday and heard this sharing on '五育' (5 aspects of education). It sounds somewhat like Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences which proposes 8 types of intelligences in human.

Anyway, this concept on 五育 gave me some insights to what perhaps a wholesome education encompasses.
1. 德育 (Nurturing moral values)
2. 智育 (Nurturing cognitive skills and wisdom)
3. 体育 (Nurturing physiques)
4. 群育 (Nurturing skills on human relationships)
5. 美育 (Nurturing a beautiful soul)
 
I had deep impression on 美育after listening to the program. It is about cultivating a beautiful heart, always appreciating the beauty of things and seeing the good side and loving oneself. 
 
Zhirui is a girl with a beautiful heart. She has acute sense of people's emotions and would make it her duty to help alleviate the pain from the person in distress. Just a week ago, we were at Ye ye's house. As usual, doting Ye ye brought Zhirui to buy some goodies. They came back with a packet of pokki biscuits. After opening up the packet, I gently reminded Zhirui to distribute the biscuit around before having one herself. So, happily she fluttered around the house like a fairy giving away biscuits. When she finally settled down to enjoy the treat, we heard a wailing sound.. Oh! It's Ye ye 'crying'.. (He's acting upset becos he didn't get any biscuit). I saw Zhirui's face went blank for few moments. Gathering back her thoughts, she quickly ran over to Ye ye with one stick, and ran back to me. At that point, we could see that Zhirui was on the verge of crying. And as we consoled her, she broke down to cry. 
 
Nai nai (Granny) said Zhirui has a heart of a Buddha. "She must have felt responsible for making Ye ye sad." I felt the same too. Zhirui is so kind-hearted. I was deeply touched by such a beautiful soul..
 
Recently, my conservative father reminded me not to let Zhirui cultivate vanity (hmm.. i suddenly realize where my bad dress sense comes from). But being a little lady, I felt it was ok for Zhirui to admire herself in front of the mirror. Being happy and feeling good about oneself is important in building one's self esteem. Well, at least such feelings should not be based wholly on appearance. To do that, parents must help children see their inner beauty (character, attitude, thoughts..) by praising them when they display such attributes. Concentrating on the good will produce more good. Caution: the contrary applies too. :)
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ya tou with her signature smile and cute hairdo.

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"!