Yan Zhitui once wrote "Yan Family Instructions", which had an important influence on the development history of family education. It is an important prose work in the late Northern Dynasties.

Yan Zhitui inherited Confucius and Mencius' educational thought of "choosing friends carefully" and attached great importance to putting children in a better social communication environment. He believes that family education should pay attention to choosing neighbors and friends, because children's psychology is in the development stage and has not yet been finalized, while children are very curious and imitative, and they are always observing and imitating other people's every move. Invisible, the behavior of people around you has "painted pottery" and "faded" children. Neighbors may even have greater influence on children than parents. This is the truth of "being cautious in making friends". Confucius said, "without friends, it is not easy to choose friends." Sages are hard to find, and it is very valuable to have superior people. We should admire him, make friends with him and learn from him.

As a Confucian saint, Zhu need not say much.

Jia Yi, on the other hand, has no relevant writings.