Be Kind

Periodically I need to have a little discussion with my kids about how they treat other people. This talk usually stems from one of them being rude or disrespectful to someone within the confines of our school.

So I decided to shape my latest lecture in the form of a self-learning exercise.

First, I asked them to tell me about all the things their parents teach them. There were no surprises in this segment of the discussion.
Then I asked the kids to tell me about the things I teach them.

The list consisted of the basics: English, stories, how to say things, new words, funny things, how to read, how to be crazy, ect. There were also comical additions like zhongzi, a tradition triangle sticky rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo and eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival, thrown in the mix.

Then I asked them what other things I taught them other than English. This took some thinking…

Evan raised his hand first. A million thoughts ran through my head trying to figure out what his witty answer would be. Here we go!
“Evan, what is something else I teach you that is not about English?”
With a slight smile on his face he replied,

“You teach us to be kind.”

I almost crumbled.
Here I thought for sure he was going to say “diarrhoea” … his word of the month.