(Clearwisdom.net) I started practicing Falun Dafa in September 1996. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I remained very diligent in studying the Fa and did the exercises every day. My daughter is now ten years old and has been in Dafa's cultivation environment since the womb.
Our daughter has been a good child from a very early age, as we used the righteous principles of the Fa as the standard for her development. She listens well and does as she is told. She is so easy to look after, that on the odd occasion when there are disagreements, they quickly pass under our righteous energy field.
She learned how to write when she started school, and since her winter vacation in the first grade, she started to copy and recite Master's Hong Yin. She takes it seriously and writes well. By the fourth grade, she had copied Hong Yin and Hong Yin II three times, and was able to recite most of the poems. On our way to school everyday, we would recite a few poems. My daughter's character, behavior and school work are all very good, and her teachers and classmates all like her.
My daughter started studying the Fa with adults, and would always ask about the things that she did not understand. The Fa slowly took root in her heart, and she would often expect herself to live up to the Fa's standard. When her classmates yelled at her or hit her, she would immediately remember not to fight back, and would just smile at them. When she felt ill, she thought to herself that practitioners do not get ill, and that she should not feel pain. She would quickly recover.
Even though my daughter is young, sometimes her words were more aligned with Fa than an adult's. Her grandmother, also a practitioner, once made some rude comments about my daughter's behavior, but my daughter did not get annoyed. She simply smiled and said, "Grandma gave me good things, and I accepted them!" After her grandma heard that, she said: "I did not scold you, I was just stating the facts. How could I have lost virtue? If I speak objectively, I shall not lose virtue." Then my daughter said, "Master said that the person who called someone, 'retard, you are a retard' would lose virtue. It seems that what that person said was also a fact, right?" Her grandma was speechless. We need to pay special attention to our speech, as we can lose virtue that way.
In elementary school children are forced to wear the uniform scarves to show their allegiance to the Young Pioneers, an affiliated organization of the Chinese Communist Party. But I had already decided that my daughter should not wear it, and taught her to decide for herself and not feel pressured by teachers and classmates. By the second grade teachers expected students to wear the scarf, but I had already written a note stating that we hoped the teachers would understand that we are not interested in such formalities, and that they should not force my daughter to wear them. The school asked parents for money to buy the scarf, and we did not pay them. Even when her teacher wrote to us about the scarf, I threw it away. I went to pick my daughter up from school the next day, and saw her taking off the scarf and putting it into her desk. I was shocked and asked her, "Why did you wear it? Where did you get it from?" She told me that her teacher gave it to her and made her wear it. When I questioned her teacher about this, she said that my daughter had to wear the scarf because if the class gets checked, they would lose points if the students were not wearing them.
I told my daughter that if we remain persistent in our righteous thoughts and actions, nobody can force us to do things that are not right. We spent more time studying the Fa, and I also read practitioners' sharing related to similar topics from the Clearwisdom website to her. I told her that if her teacher tries to make her wear the scarf, she can ask for Master Li's help.
When my daughter was in the third grade, and teachers were preparing for Children's Day on June 1, I emphasized the severity of the issue of wearing the uniform scarf with her on a daily basis. She also started to have a clear understanding on the importance of doing the right thing in regards to this matter. The day before June 1, my daughter told me that the entire class had to wear the scarf and swear the oath to the Communist Party. After some discussion, we decided she would not go to school that day. I also wrote a simple letter, which should have helped the teacher to understand our decision. The letter read:
"Dear teacher, we are very glad we did not obey the order and join the Young Pioneers, for joining the Young Pioneers should be voluntary. As parents, we believe that while our child is at school, studying and learning to be a productive individual is all she needs to do, and there should not be a matter of political ideology. Political ideology and such awareness is a choice that she can judge and make after she has grown up. We sincerely thank every teacher's kind understanding! From now on, we will excuse our daughter from every Young Pioneers related activity. We also earnestly request that teachers will not force my daughter to wear the scarf anymore, for she is not a member of the Young Pioneers and does not need to wear it. Thank you!"
We believe that we did the right thing and completely denied this unreasonable request. Even though the school principal talked to my daughter twice about wearing the scarf, with Master's help she got away with it and did not have to wear one. Since then, my daughter has gone to school with her head held high and with a smile on her face. There were always new school teachers and monitors on duty by the school entrance that would stop her and ask "Where is your scarf?" And there were always bystanders who would explain, "She is not a member of the Young Pioneers. She never wears it, and she doesn't have to wear it."
As long as we remain firm and righteous in our thoughts, the power of the Fa will always correct any wrong states, and so we succeeded in what seemed to be an impossible task.
When my daughter gets home from school, she always makes sure that she reads the Fa and completes her homework. We watch Master's lectures and send forth righteous thoughts together on the weekends. She tries her best to keep Fa study and school work in a healthy balance. She expects herself to do what's right and remembers that she is a young practitioner in school, and is at the top of her class every year.
It is summer vacation again, and my daughter has started to copy Hong Yin again. I often show her some experience sharing articles, especially the ones about young practitioners validating the Fa, in order to strengthen her righteous thoughts and help her have a better understanding of her own cultivation.
Fellow practitioners often say that it is predestined when children are born into practitioners' families. So we need to care for them well and guide them toward the right path.
One time, my daughter said that her mom is the best person in the world. I laughed and told her that she was wrong and had to think again. She realized it right away and smiled, "Master Li Hongzhi is the best person! My mom takes care of me the most!" We both smiled at each other.
Lives come to this world for the Fa. My daughter and I hope to fulfill our predestined vows, so we can enlighten and return with Master! Let us strive forward hand in hand!
