This summer, I was learning to grow tomatoes. Not that I’ve known how, but I thought as I grow, I would learn. The plan sounded good, but in reality, with so many things in life, I wasn’t reading up anything during the process, except just making sure its basic needs are met, namely sunshine and water. Little did I realize that I was supposed to prune regularly. Big mistake! Pruning ensures that the majority of the nutrients are being sent only to the trusses, so nothing is wasted on the extra stems that do not produce fruits–the suckers! My fruits ended up being very tiny indeed.

 

Likewise, we need to prune regularly for our children. Pruning, in our case, may mean censoring the materials they read. As parents, we are responsible for their nutrition. On the dinner table, we cannot just provide french fries and soda and make an excuse that as long as they’re full, we’ve done our job. They need to be properly nourished with a balanced diet. In much the same concept, we need to provide a balanced diet in the content that goes into their mind and heart. For everything has an origin. There was one time a girl was entrusted to us to stay over for a month or so. In the first few nights, she kept having nightmares about her friend being killed. When inquired further, those thoughts had come directly from books that she had recently been reading.

 

It is already extremely difficult to find level-appropriate reading materials in Chinese. The temptation is exceedingly great that we allow our child to feed on wherever his interest lies. It is our responsibility to cultivate them based on our family values. Eating healthy food takes more priority than being able to feed oneself with whatever one fancies. Reading great literature, therefore, is far more important than being able to read, even in Chinese.