I don’t know when we, as parents, started to think that being proficient in all kinds of music, chess, calligraphy and painting means being talented. Therefore, when we raise children, as long as our financial resources allow, we will teach them to learn piano, chess, calligraphy and painting from an early age. However, is playing chess, calligraphy, and painting really something that must be learned?
The great writer Su Shi was an accomplished child in literature, calligraphy, and painting. He was a very smart child since he was a child. When I was a child, I was really good at playing music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and I was a very talented child. I was the child of other people in the eyes of all parents. However, when he reached middle age, he experienced various relegations and blows in the officialdom. Feeling about his own life experience, he wrote a famous "Poem of Washing Children" at the baptism of his children:
People We all raise children hoping to be smart, but I have been deceived by being smart all my life.
I hope that my child will be foolish and careless, and that he will be able to come to the palace without any trouble.
In my opinion, Su Shi was not deceived by his cleverness, but by his artistic sense of chess, calligraphy and painting. After having this kind of artistic feeling, people have a misunderstanding of talent. However, artistic ability does not represent the ability to survive in the officialdom of real society.
Li Yu, the later master of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was also a man who was proficient in music, chess, poetry and painting. Because he was born in an emperor's family, he had good learning conditions and was smart, so he learned to play music, chess, calligraphy and painting very quickly. Therefore, he is very focused on these artistic talents and has no interest in governing the country. It can even be said that he knows nothing about it. In the end, the country perished, and he still thought about the small days of spring flowers and autumn moon.
Song Huizong of the Southern Song Dynasty was a genius who was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting. He created his own calligraphy font, thin gold style. His flower and bird paintings form an academic style of his own. He is a rare artistic genius in ancient times. Later generations said: "I can do everything, but I can't be the king's ear." The Southern Song Dynasty also began to decline from his hands.
Looking through the ancient educational classics, I found "Yan Family Instructions". The author Yan Zhitui also attached great importance to calligraphy and other skills, but he also stated, "This skill does not need to be overly refined" and "Be careful not to overdo it." "Books have their own destiny", that is to say, educate children about things like calligraphy. Just make sure the writing is not ugly, and don't indulge in it.
The first thing to educate children is the skills for survival, and the second is hobbies.
I have been thinking, why can't we be rich for three generations? The biggest reason is that the second and third generation of rich people have cultivated artistic temperament since childhood. Learning piano, chess, calligraphy and painting requires a lot of financial support, and ordinary families cannot afford to train it. Only wealthy families can train it.
However, art is a double-edged sword for children's growth. Most children with good artistic temperament will be indifferent to money when they grow up and will not worry about money. A friend opened a factory. The business was doing very well and he made a lot of money. Now that I am getting older, I am very worried about the succession issue, because my only son said that he only wants to paint and does not want to take over the business.
Nowadays, many well-off and above-average families have begun to pay attention to music. Many children, regardless of whether they have artistic talent or not, are forced to learn piano and painting since they were young, causing chaos at home.
In fact, it is good for children to learn about art. They must become a pianist, not a calligrapher or a painter. Unless, you need him to make a living from piano and calligraphy and painting in the future. Otherwise, there is really no need to learn piano for the sake of learning piano.
Art does not need to be overly refined, and art should not delay cultivating the survival skills of the next generation. If you want to be rich for three generations and educate your children and grandchildren, "be careful not to rely on books to educate yourself."