a new effective way to cultivate good habits in Renzo

When Renzo was 1.5 years old, he was reciting 三字经 together with us, he could not memorize 100% and his articulation wasn't really clear, of course he couldn't possibly understand a single word of it but I thought that was a pretty good start, to expose our little boy to some ancient, traditional Chinese Confucian classics, which might help him to learn morality, especially filial piety and respect for the elderly.

We did not pursue further to teach him more about it, because I personally feel that  三字经 focuses quite a lot on elements of Chinese history, which is not as relevant to his development at this stage. So instead, I started teaching him 弟子规 since he turned 4 last week. It is another book based on the ancient teaching of Chinese Confucius, that emphasizes the basic requisites for being a good person and guidelines for living in harmony with others.

It's amazing to see some pretty good result after Renzo started learning and reading 弟子规 for just a few days.

For example, after I explained "晨则省, 昏则定", meaning, in the morning I will greet my parents and at night I will wish them a good night, Renzo went to our helper and asked, "Aunty Jonalyn, may I have water please?" in a super polite tone, and after he finished the water, he returned the cup to our helper and said "Thank you Aunty Jonalyn, GOOD NIGHT!"

I bet that's the first time Renzo took the initiative to say Good Night to someone.

And nowadays when he's not behaving well, I could simply remind him to go and read his  弟子规, he will LISTEN, and FOLLOW without making any fuss at all!!

Now, he could read the first few verses fluently on his own, indeed, he understands and remembers these verses very well. Because when I asked him, 父母做什么，你要“须敬听"? (what do parents do, you will listen respectfully?), he answered immediately, "父母教, 须敬听 mummy!" (When my parents instruct me, I will listen respectfully).

Here's a video of him reading "父母呼 应勿缓 父母命 行勿懒 父母教 须敬听 父母责 须顺承"

Confucius emphasized that the basic moral values and virtues should be first taught to a child since young. Those values are to respect elders, respect brothers and sisters, respect wife and husband, respect the society and lastly respect the country as a whole. We often question why kids nowadays have no respect for anyone, I think probably it's because these great values are not instilled into their minds from young, instead we focus too much on creativity, imagination, self-esteem, or even academic records. I would strongly recommend 弟子规 to parents, have fun reading and learning together with your kids!!