Yan's family training sub-chapter

〔sic]

The upper wisdom is not taught, the lower foolishness is useless, and the moderate person does not teach and does not know. The ancients, the Holy King, had the method of prenatal education: pregnant with a son in March, out of the palace, not evil eyes, ears do not listen, sound taste, with etiquette. The jade edition of the book is hidden in the golden treasures. Zisheng coughed, Shi Baogu Akihito filial piety, and guided the practice. Whoever is unable to do so, when he is a child, who knows the color of man, and knows the joy and anger of man, he will add teachings, so that he will do what he does, and he will stop when he stops. Than a few years old, flogging penalties can be saved. If the parents are majestic and merciful, the children are afraid and filial piety. I see the world, there is no teaching but love, and everything cannot be. Eat and exercise, do as you please, and be admonished. The prize should be turned upside down, to the point of knowledge, called Fadanger. Arrogance has been learned, Fang copied it, pounded to death without authority, and anger grew day by day and resentment. Caught in growth, in the end for the failure of virtue, Confucius Ziyun: "less than nature, habits like nature" is also. As the saying goes, "Teach a woman to come and teach her children and babies." Sincerely!

〔Translation〕

People with superior intelligence can become talents by cultivating education; those with low intelligence are useless with intensive education; ordinary people, education plays a great role in them. Therefore, education is only relative to ordinary people, in ancient times, the king of the Holy Ming implemented prenatal education: after the queen concubine was three months pregnant, she had to move to another place, her eyes were not evil, her ears were not vain, her music was entertaining, she was indifferent, and her daily life was regular according to etiquette. Moreover, the prenatal education method is also inscribed on the jade piece, treasured in the copper cabinet, and passed down from generation to generation. When the prince was born and was still in his infancy, the palace was educated, and the Taishi, Taibao and others in charge of this work guided him with filial piety and righteousness. Even if the people cannot do so, they should try their best to educate and guide the child in a timely manner when he has the initial perception and discernment ability, so that the child knows what can be done and what cannot be done from an early age, and subtly influence him with the principle of being a person. In this way, children can be made to be less corporal punishment at a few years old. Parents should be both loving and majestic, so that children fear their parents and produce filial piety. I found that many parents now love their children improperly, only know how to spoil, no education, which is very wrong. For example, some parents should have educated and guided their children's diet, behavior, and selfish desires, but parents turned a blind eye and acquiesced to encourage; those who should have been severely criticized or even punished, but laughed and lightly, which misled the children, and when the children understood things, their right and wrong judgments were misplaced and distorted, and they would take the habitually wrong, bad behaviors, and views as if they were supposed to be so. As the saying goes, it is easy to manage early and not to move later. When the child grows up, the bad habit of arrogance and contempt is formed, and the bad habit of arbitrariness and carelessness is formed, and then try to strictly teach the child to correct these bad things, it will be very difficult, even if the fists and feet are added together, it is difficult to establish the authority of the parents, of course, to no avail. What is more harmful is that this situation will also be a vicious circle, the parents' anger against the child will grow day by day, and the child's resentment towards the parents will also increase day by day, resulting in the emotional confrontation between the parents and the child, and the child will finally suffer: due to the long-term rebellion against the parents, the child is a morally corrupt wasted person when he becomes an adult. This is in response to a sentence of Confucius: "If less is nature, habit is like nature." As the saying goes, "Teach a woman to come and teach her children and babies." How nice to say!