The "Three Character Classic" is a traditional Chinese children's enlightenment textbook, and it is also one of the most simple and easy to understand works in the Chinese literary classics handed down by the ancient philosophers, and is called "the three major reading materials of traditional Chinese Mongolian studies" together with the "Hundred Family Names" and "Thousand Character Text". And in it there is such a sentence, "Xi Mengmu, choose the neighbor", this sentence is also the source of the story of "Mengmu Three Migrations". For Meng Mu, we can say that it is familiar and strange, and the story of "Meng Mu's Three Migrations" is already familiar to us. Meng Ke, the son of Meng Mu, also known as Mencius, was one of the representative figures of the Confucian school in the Warring States period, second only to Confucius, and the two were called "Kong Meng" by later generations. It is often believed that Mencius's later achievements were mainly due to his three moves and the phrase "the son does not learn, the machine is broken". In addition to Mencius's own talent and efforts, in fact, the biggest contributor behind the scenes is Mencius's well-taught mother.
Meng Mu
As a helpless single mother, how did Meng Mu teach a child as good as Mencius? What is the difference between her way of education and ordinary women in ancient times? What kind of education can mothers living in modern society learn from it?
Mother and child get along
First, a strict mother who is strict with herself, and a son who works hard
Due to the influence of ancient feudal ideas, the status of women is actually extremely low, which is equivalent to the appendages of men, not to mention being able to educate children personally, and generally speaking, most of the children's education is on the father. However, Mencius's father Meng Ji, in order to improve the living conditions for his wife and children, chose to leave his hometown to work in the Song Kingdom, but unfortunately he died in a foreign country, so the responsibility of teaching Mencius fell to Meng Mu's head. The top beams and pillars of the home have collapsed, and the sky has collapsed for an ordinary woman, and it is a problem to live, let alone teach the children. Meng Mu strongly supported the family, making money with her industrious hands, and pulling Mengzi up.
As for Mencius's teachings, Meng Mu began to strictly demand herself when she was pregnant: "I am pregnant with a child, the seat is not right, the cut is not right, the prenatal education is also", popularly speaking, it is sitting in a correct posture, even the slices of meat cut are not regular enough to eat. In life, Meng Mu pays great attention to whether there are any problems in the details of her words and deeds. Such strict requirements for their own "prenatal education", mothers living in modern society should be able to do a minority.
Meng Mu moved three times
When Mencius was still very young, Meng Mu keenly discovered that the surrounding environment and people would have an impact on Mencius based on her intuition and experience as a woman. So in order for Mencius to be well influenced, he took Mencius around in search of a place to live. Everyone knows that even moving in modern society is an extremely troublesome and difficult thing, not to mention in the ancient times when transportation was not developed, but Meng Mu tirelessly moved for Mencius, which shows the greatness of maternal love. At this point, today's parents seem to have the same points as Meng Mu, in order to get a better education for their children, they will not hesitate to spend a lot of money to buy such a school district house, and I have to say that the love of parents has been extremely great from ancient times to the present.
Meng Mu taught Meng Ke
Under the hard work of Meng Mu and the good character of strict self-discipline, Mencius was deeply affected by it. In the good environment that Meng Mu carefully chose for him, he was influenced by etiquette and education, and also developed a tenacious, humble and studious learning spirit. All these also laid a solid foundation for Mencius's later achievements in Confucianism.
Second, the influence of Mengmu on Mencius's marriage and career
Meng Mu not only had an influence on Mencius's learning and etiquette, but also played a crucial role in his marriage and career. In terms of marriage, Mencius at that time was very dissatisfied with his wife's casual personality, believing that women and Taoist families knew shame. Once, when Mencius returned home, when he inadvertently pushed open the door, he saw his ill-dressed wife sitting at home after finishing his work, and he was furious. When Meng Mu learned about it, she did not follow her son like most mothers, but turned around and began to reprimand Mengzi, believing that the responsibility for this matter was all on Mengzi himself. If Mencius knew the etiquette of knocking on the door before entering, the wife would naturally pay attention to her own image, after all, the weather was too hot and the wife had just finished her work, and she would naturally remove her clothes in order to cool down. After Mencius listened to it, he apologized to his wife, and the relationship between the two became better and better, and the husband and wife were qinser and ming.
Meng Ke's childhood
In modern society, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is always the most prone cause of conflict and contradiction in the family, and the relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law will more or less affect her son. If the matter of Mencius and his wife is placed in modern society, I believe that many mothers will choose to side with their sons. Meng Mu was once again different from ordinary women, and after looking at this matter wisely, she skillfully resolved the embarrassing situation of Mencius's wife, and also gave Mencius a etiquette lesson, conveying the concept of "you respect others, others will respect you".
In terms of career, Mencius's dream at that time was to go to the Song Kingdom to show his ambitions and fight for his own piece of the world. However, at that time, Meng Mu was old and her health was also very bad, and the filial Piety Mengzi could not bear to abandon Meng Mu and chose to stay, and Mengzi stayed until the age of 30. However, unable to realize the dream in his heart, Mencius was depressed all day, and the careful Meng Mother discovered Mencius's abnormality and asked Mencius the reason for the incident. After learning about Mencius's troubles, Meng Mu expressed her strong support for Mencius's dream and persuaded Mencius to pursue his dream. Inspired by Mengmu, Mencius thus embarked on a journey to a foreign country, and Kung Fu paid off, and Mencius's talent and achievements in Confucianism created a bright future for him. Meng Mu as a mother at this time for Mencius to feel proud and happy, who expected the disease not to spare people, Meng Mu died of illness, this wise and great mother's life stopped at that moment. The moment when she could not see the shining lintel of her son who had spent countless painstaking efforts to cultivate in her lifetime should be the most regrettable and regrettable place in Meng Mu's heart.
Meng Ke
Being a mother is not too difficult, and being a good mother is not so easy. As a woman who lived in the feudal period, Meng Mu's way of thinking and education methods were not feudal at all, but very enlightened. Whether it was in Mencius's growth, study, marriage or career, Meng Mu taught Mencius differently according to the different stages of his growth. Love your child but don't spoil it, don't skimp on your praise when it's time to praise, and replace verbally hurtful blame with enlightenment when your child does something wrong. And Meng Mu's godson Youfang also set an excellent example for the parents of future generations, and became a good mother and mentor for the ages.