Seeing Good Progress

One of the phrases in 弟子规 states
“或饮食 或坐走 长者先 幼者后”

It translates to whether you are drinking, eating, walking or sitting, let the elders go first; younger ones should follow.

It is a way to show respect to your elders by giving them priority.

Well, Jiaheng seems to have internalised this quite well. Let me give an example...
Example : (At the breakfast table this morning)
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Kai Hock prepared a slice of bread for Jiaheng, then one of me. While Kai Hock was spreading the jam on his own bread, I started to eat. A quarter of the bread was already in my mouth, and just before my teeth sank into the bread, Jiaheng said "Wait! Mommy wait!"

My first reaction was to pull the bread out of my mouth. Jiaheng followed "Mommy, Papa is older so he has to eat first. " Oh ok... since we were the ones who taught him 弟子规, then we should abide right? So I "obediently" waited for Kai Hock to finish spreading his bread.

Then Jiaheng made an interesting comment. "Next time, we have to wait for Ah gong to eat, then Ah Ma to eat, then Gong Gong to eat, then Popo to eat, then Papa to eat, then Mommy to eat, then Auntie Joanne to eat, then Jiu Jiu to eat, then I eat, then Yixuan can eat."

Ha ha ha... poor Yixuan... how long must she wait before she can eat if we are to follow what Jiaheng described?

----------- posted by Mommy