It is definitely valuable to introduce to the children existing blessings passed down over the generations, like 常常喜樂 (Be joyful always), 出入平安 (May you be blessed with safety). They may pick up the rhythm and the literary elements of these phrases. Alternately, writing their own blessings can also be more personal to their lives.

 

You may want to try this third idea. Most know that it is a tradition to have an elaborate feast during this holiday, usually with dishes with special names that sound like blessings, e.g. 發財好事 (dried oysters with black moss), 年年有餘 (we always have a surplus; fish sounds like something left). The issue is that children today, especially those raised overseas, may not have the delicate taste buds to enjoy these fine dishes.

 

To pass down this tradition more effectively, we may start to ask what foods the child likes to have for the new year, then work backwards.

 

A scenario: A child came up with sausages, eggs, onion and duck. Another child said we need vegetables, so they added broccoli and cauliflower. Then based on the food names, they came up with rhymes that may help make up a blessing The teacher may need to add some linkage to tie up the phrases, asking intermittently whether that is the blessing they wish to receive.

新年大餐

花彩家愛 (花菜雞鍋) Radiant Family Love
椰菜花 西蘭花 花調雞 (cauliflower, broccoli, chicken with huadiao wine pot)

 

常常是但 (腸腸豉蛋) Always Be Easygoing ( “是但”不注重過程, 但注重结果)
香腸豉油炒蛋 (sausages and eggs with soy sauce)

 

衷心萬得 (蔥心Duck) (Sincerity of the Heart Makes Everything Work)
洋蔥爆雞心鴨絲 (chicken hearts and shredded duck, stir fry with onion)

 

The advantages? The level of the word usage and understanding is adjusted for both the child and the teacher. And the child

1. makes up blessings he likes to receive
2. learns the words of the food he likes
3. actually eats the food

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.