Especially for young children, this is a good form of education. The moral stories in ancient China are very rich. By telling these stories, children can better understand the meaning and value of morality and cultivate their moral consciousness and quality.

In the Confucian theory of self-cultivation, self-cultivation is the foundation of keeping the family, governing the country and calming the world. Therefore, Confucianism attaches great importance to the cultivation and shaping of personal personality and influences others through personal personality. Confucius advocated that "a righteous man should be righteous with himself first, walk upright, walk without orders, and walk upright, although he does not obey orders."

Because the ancient family letters and family instructions in China are all educational materials written by the respected elders in the family, many viewpoints are based on their own personal experiences, which invisibly play a demonstration role for future generations.

Principles of Family Education in Ancient China

First, if you have spare capacity, you must learn to write.

This is what Confucius said in The Analects of Confucius. Here, "behavior" refers to moral behavior, and "culture" refers to cultural knowledge. He emphasized that ideological and moral education should be put before cultural knowledge education. In addition to Confucius, many ancient thinkers have emphasized this point. Han Yu said, "Teacher, that's why I preach and teach."

That is, the duty of an educator is first to preach (ideological and moral education), and then to teach (impart business knowledge) and solve problems. Wang Fuzhi put forward the three steps of "learning", "doing" and "knowing shame", especially emphasizing that "knowing shame" is the driving force to do well in learning and doing. All these are talking about putting ideological and moral education in the first place in other education.

Second, the combination of loyalty and faithfulness.

Ancient educators did not advocate ideological and moral education in isolation. They advocate that ideological and moral education and cultural knowledge education should be carried out simultaneously. In the Analects of Confucius, Confucius put forward that "a child should teach four things: literature, conduct, loyalty and faithfulness", which is divided into four subjects: morality, speech, politics and literature. Ideological and moral cultivation runs through all disciplines, emphasizing "standing in ceremony and becoming happy."

He also said, "There are 300 poems. In a word, it is' naive thinking'." The so-called "ideological innocence" refers to the ideological influence. In other words, he thinks that every capital in these 300 poems contains pure moral education. Xunzi specially wrote On Music, arguing that setting music can "control people's hearts", "be kind to people's hearts" and "change customs". It is a fine tradition for thinkers of past dynasties to educate future generations with historical records faithful to facts and noble conduct of celebrities of past dynasties.

Historical Records written by Sima Qian in the Western Han Dynasty, Shi Tong written by Liu Zhiji in the Tang Dynasty, and Zi Tong Zhi Jian written by Sima Guang in the Song Dynasty are all based on historical facts to educate and enlighten people, and serve as a reference for "learning from the past".

Where there is a will, there is a way.

Ancient thinkers said that "where there is a will, there is a way", "where there is a will, the three armed forces can win the position of commander-in-chief, but ordinary people can't win the ambition" and so on, all referring to "ambition", "ambition" and "ideal" and efforts. Ideological and moral education is to inspire people to make up their minds to do things that conform to moral norms, to be a noble person, to persist in their ideals, to be firm in their beliefs and to be full of confidence. No matter what you do, you should aim at the set goals, be diligent and brave, be strong-willed and persevere.

Confucius said, "See the sage Si Qi, but don't see the sage for introspection", which is to encourage people to have determination. Mencius emphasized "keeping ambition" and "respecting ambition". He said, "You are handsome if you have ambition." . And put forward to cultivate a kind of "aristocratic spirit", requiring people to work hard. This should also be advocated today.