Celebrating Shan Le's 4th Birthday at Urban Toddlers

We celebrated Shan Le's 4th birthday at his school on Thursday 14 October 2010.  His birthday is on 18 October 2010 but we decided to do this little party earlier as he needs to attend speech therapy in the afternoon on his birthday.

We had a very close shave on Thursday and we almost missed the time the school allocated for parents to hold birthday parties.  Well, we actually arrived at 1.20pm when we were supposed to start at 1pm.  After 1.30pm, all the kids will start to leave. It was a hectic day really.  Our driver, Samir, had to go for a minor operation and I had to drive down to Maadi with Irene to collect the cake and cookies.  I was held back because of work and left late.  Worse, I could not find find my way to Kum's Cake and spent about 15 minutes circling Maadi looking for the place and got muy bumper dented in the process :-(

The worst part is getting stuck for a good 10 minutes in Kasr El-Nil street in downtown Cairo.  I should not have taken that road! But fortunately, the road cleared up and I managed to get to the nursery in time for the party.  We rushed to place the cake and laying out the plates and serviettes while the teachers and helpers get the kids to sit down.  We sang the birthday song for Le Le in both English and Arabic, blow the candles, cut the cakes and finishing them up all in 10 minutes!!!

The sad thing is that I lost the video clip I took with my Android phone....

拜读三字经

善乐这一个月以来每日上下课在车里都听着朗诵[三字经]的CD。也不知道是他的记忆力好呢还是[三字经]的文字押韵的太好，他已经能背下二十八四句168个字：


人之初，性本善。性相近，习相远。苟不教，性乃迁。教之道，贵以专。
昔孟母，择邻处。子不学，断机杼。窦燕山，有义方。教五子，名俱扬。
养不教，父之过。教不严，师之惰。子不学，非所宜。幼不学，老何为。
玉不琢，不成器。人不学，不知义。为人子，方少时。亲师友，习礼仪。
香九龄，能温席。孝于亲，所当执。融四岁，能让梨。弟于长，宜先知。
首孝弟，次见闻。知某数，识某文。一而十，十而百。百而千，千而万
三才者，天地人。三光者，日月星。三纲者，君臣义。父子亲，夫妇顺。


希望这中华“蒙书之冠”能为他奠定良好的论理，道德以及语言基础。

解读三字经

最近我正在收看百家讲坛钱文忠教授解读[三字经]，感触良多．[三字经]据说是宋朝以来传统中国儿童的启蒙读物．'人之初，性本善．性相近，习相远' 短短十二个字的开头就包含了中国儒家的深层思想．我们先不去争论这哲理是否正确．毕竟，千百年以来人性是否善恶各家一直争论不休．钱文忠教授将［人之初，性本善］论为我们对人类的美好期望的看法，我是非常赞同的．可是我也意识到人的善性是需要后天的教育方能展现的．

回顾我当初为善乐命名的时候，我就是希望他這一生萬事都 '以善為本, 為善最樂'．我們終究無法照顧他的一生. 我們可以作到的就是灌輸他正確的價值觀, 讓他一生受用不盡. 我們深切相信, 只要他能以善待人, 他會感覺他的人生是快樂的. 当初想法至今没变. 可是认识了[三字经]后让我更进一步的思考要如何灌輸他正確的價值觀. '养不教，父之过'. 把孩子生下来却不教育他, 是父亲的过错. 教育孩子可不仅仅是给与他知识而已.更重要的是灌輸他正確的價值觀.


在现今的教育制度, 重心是放在学习知识上. 正确价值观的教育则是次要. 因为我们国家的多元化, 国家教育对于价值观的灌输是相当敏感的. 必须提防以一个种族或一个宗教的观点来设定'正确'的价值观. 基本的是非对错事没什么敏感. 但其他的价值观比如[三字经]及儒家所倡导的孝悌就不一定是所有人所一致认同的. 对我而言, 教育的重心应该放在正確价值观的灌输. 既然校园注重于知识的教育, 家中身为父母的我们就必须加强教育孩子正確的价值观而不是一昧的督促学校课业的得失. 这是我的个人看法也是我对于善乐的教育方针.


要如何实践就得深思一翻了......