Don’t f*ck up your kids. Keep your promises.
Zengzi Butchered a Pig
Zengzi was a disciple of Confucius and an influential Chinese philosopher. His wife didn’t know much about parenting.
One day, Zengzi’s wife needed to go shopping for groceries, and their young son wanted to head out with her to play. When she didn’t let him, he started crying his heart out, just like any spoiled annoying kids.
The mother rolled her eyes at her son and said, “Stay home, and I will cook you pork for dinner tonight.”
Do know that this was ancient China. We are talking 500 BC. Each household probably kept only one pig for the Chinese New Year feast.
The son immediately stopped crying hearing the word “pork”.
When Zengzi’s wife came back, she was shocked to hear the pig screaming as Zengzi tried to catch and kill the pig.
“Stop! I was just joking with that kid!” She yelled.
“Our son wouldn’t know you are joking. He is too small to know that!” said Zengzi. “All kids imitate and listen to their parents. When you lie to our son, you are teaching him to cheat on other people. If we lie to our son, he will stop trusting us and his education will be f*cked!”
