The education of "filial piety" for children mainly requires children to form the habit of not going against their parents' will and obeying their absolute authority from an early age. For example, Li Yuxiu, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, once said in Disciples Rules: "It is urgent for parents to call; Parents, don't be lazy; Parents teach, you must listen; Parents have the responsibility to be obedient. " Sima Guang, a historian of the Northern Song Dynasty, also pointed out in his Miscellaneous Documents: "All children, regardless of their size, must consult their parents." These requirements are to highlight the absolute authority of parents.
The education of filial piety for children also requires children to develop the habit of respecting their parents from an early age. "Xiao Jing Ji Xiaoxing" said: "Filial piety is also a matter of affection, which is born with respect and raised with joy." In other words, filial piety is to be respectful to parents at ordinary times, not to slack off, to serve parents as much as possible, and to make parents happy. "Book of Rites Quli" also requires sons to be "warm in winter and cool in summer, and quiet in the morning" to their parents. In other words, parents should be kept warm in winter, cooled in summer, made in the evening and greeted in the morning. Huang Xiang in the Eastern Han Dynasty can be said to be a model of this kind of filial piety. "Xiang is nine years old and will warm up." (Wang Yinglin: Sheng Amethyst, A Review of Feudal Mongolian Culture in China, appendix, Shaanxi People's Publishing House, 1989, p. 22. It is said that when Huang Xiang was 9 years old, she was very filial to her father and could warm her bed with her body temperature in winter. Therefore, it was listed as one of the twenty-four filial piety in ancient times and became an example for children in feudal society to learn.
Paying attention to cultivating children's moral quality of filial piety from childhood is the embodiment of the traditional moral consciousness of respecting and filial piety for the elderly in ancient China. At the same time, as the beginning of the formation of children's moral consciousness, it also conforms to the law of children's moral formation. Of course, the "filial piety" in feudal society is essentially "borrowing the theory of father and son" and "being strict with monarch and minister" Highlighting the filial piety of patriarchy aims at strengthening the loyalty to the imperial power, and this kind of loyalty and filial piety is the foolish loyalty and filial piety that does not ask right and wrong. It completely stifles children's personality and freedom and becomes the source of slaves and minions, which we should criticize.
If filial piety is used to maintain vertical family relations and occupy a dominant position, then it is used to strengthen horizontal family relations and occupy an auxiliary position. The education of caring for children mainly requires children to be friendly from childhood, love their younger brothers, and love their younger brothers. It is said that when Kong Rong, a great writer in the Eastern Han Dynasty, was 4 years old, he could give his big pear to his younger brother and keep the small one for himself. The story of "Kong Rong Li Rang" was widely circulated in feudal society and was cited as a typical example of education for many times in preschool family education.
The purpose of emphasizing the cultivation of virtue in family education is to make brothers live in harmony, the family is prosperous, and individuals can stand in society in the future. During the Three Kingdoms period, Xiang Lang warned his son: "Poverty is not a problem, peace is the most precious." "Jiuzu and peaceful movement, quiet also." (Xiang Lang: Last Words and Commandments, Three Dynasties, Qin and Han Dynasties, Six Dynasties and Three Kingdoms). Yan Zhitui, an educator in the Northern Qi Dynasty, clearly pointed out: "Brothers, fractal and even angry people are also ... two relatives are dead, and brothers care for each other, as if they were inseparable." (Yan Zhitui: Yan Family Training Brothers, Collection of Yan Family Training, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1980, pp. 37 and 40. ) If brothers fear each other, sons and nephews don't love each other. Who will help foreign countries when disasters come? The Biography of Shu Wei Tuguhun also recorded a story: King Tuguhun had 20 sons. When he was dying, he called his sons to his side and said, "Each of you takes an arrow from me and breaks it on the ground." His sons all broke their arrows. Then he said to his mother and brother, "Take 19 arrows and combine them to break them." His mother and brother can't stop folding. The jackal said, "Do you understand? It is easy for a single arrow to break, but it is difficult for multiple arrows to break together. Only when everyone works together in Qi Xin can the country be consolidated. " This story just shows that brothers unite to have strength.