The Joys and Challenges of Raising a Young Child

My Son

I want to talk about my son. My son is now one year and eight months old and has brought enormous happiness to our family, although my wife and my parents-in-law always complain about how tiring it is to look after him.

He is really cute and adorable. He can now speak some very simple words, such as 'papa' and 'mama', but he can understand quite a lot of things, although he cannot express himself verbally. For example, he can recognize the personal belongings of each family member, such as my T-shirt, grandpa's eyeglasses, or my wife's bag. He also firmly protects his own personal belongings, such as his little chair, on which he sits for meals. He will drive you away if you attempt to sit on his chair.

I am always amazed at how fast he can learn things and how good his memory is. He can instantly learn funny gestures from TV programs. For example, we found out that as he walked, he kicked his legs and feet high, and then we recalled it was because he watched the national parade in Tiananmen Square on National Day. He also learned some gestures like kung fu after watching gymnastics in sports programs.

I always believe that parents are the first and best teachers for children. I have a lot of friends who are also new parents. They pay for their kids' very expensive courses, some pre-school courses. I believe that you need to nurture and bring up your children with your heart and love. Every weekend, my wife and I take him to parks because we live very close to the Guangzhou Zoo, so I often take him to the zoo to show him the animals. He always loves watching all kinds of animals.

I also want to do some experiments. I want to see how children learn language, so I try to teach him bilingually. I teach him to say some words in English and then in Mandarin. Now he can understand quite a lot of instructions. For example, if I ask him, 'Where is your bike?' he will run to his bike and show it to me. If I ask him, 'Where is the moon?' he will point his finger up to the sky. I think he is quite funny. I also hope that if he can learn English at a very young age, he will not suffer too much when he studies at school.

I think a child can bring enormous happiness to the family and to my life. I now always feel joy and peace while I am with him, so my favorite pastime is to play with him after meals and after work. I can forget all about the frustrations and sometimes unhappiness at work and feel fully recharged. I have learned strong family values after raising my son, and I understand how difficult it is to be a parent. I now try to call my parents whenever I have time, take them out to dinner, or visit them on weekends. I think it's great to be a parent.