Parent-child Bible reading (2012)

​

I really didn't expect that a Chinese who had lived in China for 30 years would really systematically understand and learn the essence of Chinese culture in Canada. I didn't expect that after four years of coming to Canada, my first long-term volunteer work was to teach children to read the Four Books and Five Classics once a week.

​

Two years ago, by chance, a friend introduced me to take my child to a sutra reading class in a Buddhist hall. That was the first Vancouver class for Taiwanese to promote global reading. At the beginning, I just had the mentality of giving it a try, because I also learned about many classes for learning Chinese and went to many churches and temples. Unexpectedly, my child and I persevered and fell in love with this group.

​

Yesterday, the reading class held a large-scale reading promotion seminar. There were children's reading performances. I was also arranged to do a short parent-child reading sharing in front of the stage. After I shared my experience and knowledge of reading the Bible with my daughter in the past two years, many people came over to praise and agree.

​

It is worth mentioning that all the staff in the reading class are volunteers from Taiwan. When you get along with them, you don't feel that their enthusiasm is to benefit from you or to prove their excellence. They are low-key and simple, never worry about gains or losses, never talk about politics, but work hard with a kind of spiritual belief and mission of the Chinese nation. This is also the number one reason why I can stay.

​

The classics such as the Analects of Confucius, the Tao Te Ching, the University, the Doctrine of the Mean, Zhu Zi’s Family Governance, the Hundred Filial Piety Scriptures, the Three-Character Classic, and Tang Poems recite in the Scripture Class, I personally think that it is always the best reading for understanding Chinese culture and learning Chinese characters. What other textbooks can be substituted. These classic works contain the wisdom and civilization achievements of the Chinese nation for thousands of years. The wisdom of life, the knowledge of interpersonal relations, and the methods of self-cultivation and family governance are among them. They are enough for us to study in a lifetime. Not to mention the choice of words and sentences, the way of discussion, and the phonology and rhythm in the works are definitely the blueprint for children to learn Chinese.

​

The method adopted in the Bible reading class is a parent-child reading method. Parents and children go to class together, and read it ten times with their children every day. This provides a good opportunity for parents and children to live together and learn from each other. And through this kind of coexistence, the relationship between parents and children is not only a parent-child relationship, but also a classmate relationship. When the children grow up, they will become friends with us. Because of the common life standards and goals, the generation gap between parents and children will be very small. It is realizing the same lineage, passed down from generation to generation.

​

The parent-child reading class has a small mouth to read: sit upright, straighten the scriptures, press with left hand, right finger, look with eyes, and read with mouth. Don't look at the simple words, but they are a very important way of reading the Bible. It is a learning method that combines the five senses of the hand, eye, ear, mouth, and heart to develop the brain. In fact, it took my daughter almost two years to be able to sit at the desk and read aloud every time she read the Bible at home. At the beginning, when she was four and a half years old, she didn't read books at all, just listened to me and read with me, but she was able to read it ten times a day like this. Later, in order to allow her to sit down and read the book, I took many methods, rewarding her with a sticker or giving a game card or giving her a kiss every time I read a word. Slowly, from once twice to now reading ten times, she no longer needs any inducement to complete it independently, because she began to recognize many Chinese characters. Not long ago, I realized that this method is also suitable for my daughter to learn piano. Piano teachers always emphasize sing and play for beginners, which is the best way to remember and focus.

​

In the two years of reading the Bible, my daughter and I have overcome many difficulties together. After all, reading it ten times a day will take a long time for beginners. This means that the parents who accompany the school have to give up a lot of time for rest and entertainment. In this process, the children sometimes want to be lazy, and the parents also want to give up; sometimes family members do not cooperate or friends do not understand that they will argue with themselves; sometimes the children's resistance will make them very upset. At this time, it is two words "persistence". Because if we do not persist, we will never see its results. Of course, in this process of overcoming difficulties, the child's very important character is invisibly trained: conquering oneself, surpassing oneself, and persevering.

​

Now that the child is still young, she just opened the scriptures and still can't understand the rich content. But just keep reading like this, and the scriptures will become their friends. With the enrichment of their life experience, their friend will help them make the right choice when they encounter difficulties in family relationships, work, and social life. This is also the biggest expectation of parents for their children: to obtain a happy life with wisdom and character.

​

Having said that, it's a pity. This lesson is missing from the more than ten years of school education we have received in China. Especially the "Cultural Revolution" severely disrupted the cultural beliefs of the Chinese nation. As a result, the generations of Chinese born after the Cultural Revolution still pay attention to traditional cultural education in their families, and the whole family completely abandons cultural and traditional education, they will have a completely different sense of happiness in life and family in the future. In the past, it was criticizing the hole, but now it is starting to know how to return and push the hole.

Especially when you come to a foreign country and come into contact with many different cultures, you will have a deep understanding of the "world view of the world and the view of life of great love". This is also the consensus of many immigrants. Many people have made considerable achievements in China, but in the end they chose to change their lives.

Bible reading, Bible reading (2014)
It has been five years since 2009 and now that my children and I have been in Vancouver Bible study class. In the five years, I have been studying and summarizing continuously, and I have a comprehensive understanding of children's parent-child reading. I really want to share my experience with parents with children.

It is very necessary for children to learn a language and have a certain intensity of oral muscle training. Our daily language is trivial and monotonous, which is not enough to provide enough words for children in the language development stage. Scriptures are the hardest to read and the most durable textbook. Its melody, rhyme and rich language vocabulary can allow children's oral muscles to be fully exercised in daily reading. With such a trained mouth, it is easy to speak a few more languages.

When reading the scriptures, you can press the book with one hand, braille with the other hand, see with your eyes, and read with your mouth. This allows children to develop the left and right brains in the corresponding discrimination of images and sounds. Know more words, improve reading ability and language listening ability.

Parent-child reading together is an effective and high-quality parent-child relationship. Use loud and low voices, speed, teacher-student replacement, and solitaire when reading the Bible to allow parents and children to enhance parent-child relationship in the game. Let daily reading of the Bible be a long-term intimate activity between parents and children. Don't underestimate this relationship, it will come in handy in the future.

The benefits of the above readings are actually just a superficial one, what really sublimate the meaning of the readings is the feeling in the back.

When the parent-child reading of the scriptures continues for a period of time, both parents and children will feel bored. At this time, it will make us think deeply about the charm of the scriptures. The true charm of scriptures lies not in memorizing, but in practicing.

Resolving the all-encompassing scriptures of life philosophy into codes of conduct and ethics close to the lives of children is actually the favorite part of children. From the perspective of children’s politeness, rules and filial piety, children are required to frequently use polite language, children are required to regulate and restrict their behavior, and children are required to be filial and grateful to their parents.

Many parents have realized that when we ask our children in this way and have to respond to them, we have to re-examine whether we have set an example for our children, whether we have given them the right amount of love, and whether we have Sufficient wisdom to satisfactorily answer various life questions raised by children.

If it weren't for children, we only knew that we would keep moving forward without having the opportunity to look back at the mirror behind us to see if we were as innocent as before, and whether we need to lose it again. Therefore, parents need to participate in various lectures and studies, participate in reading clubs, participate in parent growth training classes, and return to the scriptures to find wisdom. So the establishment of the family tradition and the implementation of the family education began from here. A value of life is implanted in the bone marrow of each family member, and it has also become the strength to cohere the family, and through inheritance, it has become the foundation for the growth of this family.

Someone once questioned me as to why I have to play with these "old antiques" in developed countries in the West. Yes, I am also very surprised, why I have not read a single scripture after living in China for 30 years, but I can get in touch with it when I come to Canada? It is also said that these "old antiques" are incompatible with Canadian society?

When we study all kinds of scriptures with an open mind and carefully understand the lives of children in Canadian schools, we will find that the core values ​​they advocate are exactly the same, such as love, respect, and rebirth. Every year the school has Terry Fox Run, No Bully Day, Remenber Day, Thinksgiving Day, garbage collection classes starting from preschool, and various performances that the whole school is not very professional but every student can participate in and so on. They are all teaching children a great love, loving oneself, loving family, loving the environment, a kind of respect, respect for everyone's difference, respect for the power of others, and respect for nature. The behavior of restraining oneself has maintained the order of society. This is a common norm in a civilized society.

It is the prevailing and domineering culture of power, opportunistic business culture, and the test-oriented education culture that is eager for quick success and profit, which is currently popular in China. It is incompatible with Canada's natural and simple humanistic environment. If these incompatible things are allowed to spread, then we will not be able to integrate into this society after all, and our children will lose their way.
It is precisely because of the diversity and tolerance of Canadian society that various cultures can play their best and wise roles in their own ways. This includes traditional Chinese Taoism and Confucian culture. Countless people with good intentions have created this beautiful natural environment.

When children are polite to others, thank you for everything you do for them, learn to take care of their own diet and daily life, manage their study time, show love to others, and use wisdom to resolve worries, we are right There is nothing to worry about in their future.

Keep reading the Bible, just to gain wisdom and happiness with your children.

​

(2016)
I hope more and more children can join in the reading. In this life, don't forget to make friends with sages.

Fortunately, I started to take my children to read the Bible seven years ago, and slowly began to settle.

After all, children, including their own experience, are limited. Through books, they can continue to carry out psychological exercises and expand the broadness of their minds. Just like, the same is a spoonful of salt, put in a small glass of water, the water will soon become salty. And put it in a large glass of water, or even a lake, the salt is quickly diluted and dissolved. Can't afford to make waves. Only by being quiet can we go deep.

​

(2018)
Now, before going to bed every night, my third daughter Miao Miao always brings me the scriptures, let me read the scriptures with her, and then tell stories. This is the most heart-warming moment of the day. Take back the restless heart of the day, rest and be well.

When Miao Miao was still in my stomach, I was learning how to be a teacher in the reading class. The two older sisters have been studying for more than three years, and of course she has never left to read the scriptures until now. There are many voices and videos of her own Bible reading since she was two years old. If it weren't for reading the scriptures, I wouldn't be able to record so many lovely voices.

Based on the experience of bringing two sisters and other children to read the scriptures, for Miao Miao and for the Chinese living overseas, my concept of reading the scriptures has gradually matured.

We don’t use rough methods to force children to read the scriptures, but if a child has the opportunity to sit down and open the scriptures, we will encourage him with a hundred thousand points of enthusiasm, and let him understand how rare this event is. interesting.

Many parents have a lot of expectations for the future of reading the Bible. Increasing children's literacy, memory, and improving Chinese proficiency may be of great help to reading and writing in the future. However, it ignores the greatest effect of reading the scriptures, which only occurs at the moment of pleasant reading.

Studies have shown that sitting still can change a person's brain waves, which in turn can make substantial changes to the brain. The same goes for reading the Bible. With a peaceful mind, when reading the scriptures aloud, the wisdom of sages or gods and Buddhas will radiate huge energy waves through specific vibration frequencies, infiltrating our body, mind, and soul. Every time I finished the reading class, it was like a deep head and neck acupuncture massage, my mind was extremely relaxed and flexible.

Regardless of your religious beliefs or no religious background, you have the wisdom of sages or the classics of gods and Buddhas to read. I regard them as manuals of life. It is inevitable that there will be confusion in life. The manual is in your heart and you will not panic. In a pleasant mood, in the original, preferably in the original language, just take the child to recite it aloud.

For children, the younger they are, the more open their minds and attitudes toward classics are. For parents, it is a problem. Too much restlessness, utilitarianism, and paranoia will affect the reading of the Bible. Because although the scriptures are thin, their thickness can travel through thousands of years of time and space. In a short time, if we can't touch the author's soul, we will feel boring. For a while, if you can't see the desired effect, you will feel useless. Who knows? Profound and subtle to describe the reading of the scriptures may be more appropriate.

We read the scriptures because of our children, who can be said to be our nobles. There are also friends who read for themselves, read with others around them, and persevere for a long time, which are all admirable.

Welcome everyone to read the scriptures with us, we just insist on doing something that seems "useless".

(2021)
The time came to the 12th year after reading the Bible. As always, I have been a volunteer teacher in the Bible reading class, and the three daughters who have read the Bible since childhood have also grown up in their own way as always.

The eldest daughter started reading the Bible at the age of 5 and is now almost 17 years old. Report her situation: Before the epidemic, she had always been a volunteer teacher in the Bible reading class and actively participated in various volunteers in the community. She has her own ideas and has the courage to try what she loves. At the age of 15, got a formal bakery job. After that, I became a coach in the cheerleading team, helped the neighbors to look after the children, and taught the children French on the Internet. Actively promote vegetarian food online, learn photography and get the opportunity to promote vegetarian food online paid by a vegetarian company. She completes her studies at school completely independently and receives awards every year. In the 11th grade, he founded the News Club in the school, which was well received by teachers and classmates.

Maybe it's because of her ability, she sometimes becomes proud, and her temper will hurt people. I think this is a good time for the education of the scriptures to play a further role. So once, I had a big quarrel with her, and she vomited all the uncomfortable things in her heart, and then she saw me crying very sadly, sitting in the bedroom without eating or drinking all day. The next day she cried and apologized in front of me, so I had the opportunity to have a deep dialogue with her about "self". The reason why it is said to be profound is because the purpose of classic education is to allow us to withdraw our vision from all external appearances, to crush the vain and false self, to use the light of wisdom to perceive our inner self, and to take care of our words, deeds and thoughts. . No matter what you do, never forget to be the root of a person. At that time, she experienced the opening chapter of "The Analects": "Study and learn from time to time, don't you say it? Is it fun to have friends come from afar? People don't know but are not stunned, not like a gentleman?" I think this will benefit both her and me for life.

Reading the Bible will never stop, read with your mouth when you are young, read with your heart when you are old, and practice with your whole life.

In my heart, I always thank the Chongde people who brought the real classic education to Vancouver! Thanks to the predecessors! Thanks to the dojo!