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.