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When you make a promise, you should keep it. If you fail to do it, it could be interpreted that you told a lie.<br/>When you train children not to tell a lie, one of the best methods is to remind them to carry out their promises. If a person can always carry out his promise, this person will be a success. This training should start from childhood.<br/>Zeng Zi was one of Conficius’ seventy-two outstanding students. One day, when Zeng Zi’s wife was preparing to go out, her young son asked to go with her. As she did not want to take the little boy with her, she tricked him, “Stay at home with daddy. He will kill out pig and I’ll cook a tasty pork stew for you to eat tonight.’<br/>Upon her return she was surprised to find her husband binding their only young pig and preparing to kill it. She immediately went to stop him, telling him that their pig was still too young. They would better wait until the pig grew up. Obviously, she had already forgotten the trick she played to her son earlier the day.<br/>“I want to kill the pig to let you cook a pork stew for our son to eat tonight, as you promised him earlier.” Zeng Zi told his wife seriously.<br/>“What I promised him earlier was but a trick, because I did not want to take him with me,” Zeng Zi’s wife explained to her husband.<br/>“You are right. Our pig is still too young. I don’t want to kill it now. The reason why I must do it is to carry out your promise. Our son is a child. Parents’ words and actions are children’s model. If we don’t carry out our promises, how can we expect our child to carry out his promises when he grows up?” Zeng Zi told his wife in a very serious manner.<br/>Zeng Zi did kill their young pig, and his wife did cook a pork stew for their son to eat that day. The story of Zeng Zi’s killing pig has since been passed from generation to generation in Chinese history.<br/> |
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