Learning Curve

XJ's colleague passed him some wisdom about raising children. It is so funny that I have been constantly cracking up every time I think of it since he told me. It is translated as, “Raising the first kid according to books and raising the second one as a piggy.” It is even funnier when you say it in Chinese because it has a rhyme in it. It says, “第一个小孩按书养，第二个小孩当猪养”.

Joking aside, this simple phrase is so witty and comprehensive! I can’t help but acclaim the power of Chinese expression. If we give this some analytical thinking: apparently, the learning curve for young parents to raise the first kid is very deep because you start from ground zero and have so much to learn. As for the second, the third and etc, with more accumulated knowledge, the starting point on the Y axis is higher and the learning curve naturally gets flatter and flatter. But this is not always the case, if you get some precious help from mom and dad, which would give the beginning a jump start, the learning curve, even for the first kid, can be flatter too. That is why everybody invites parents to help! Ooops, I guess I went too far on this analysis. This starts to get boring and silly.

My parents have four kids with me being the youngest. Hmmm, I am wondering what kind of animal I was raised as back then. Gotta call them and find out. Just kidding, I can’t thank my parents more for bringing me to this world and bringing me up the way I am. If I was a piggie, I believe I was the luckiest, happiest, proudest and most spoiled piggie in the world. I can’t imagine how my mom achieved to be a mother of four kids when she was in a even younger age than I am now. People say daughters connect to parents, especially moms much more deeply when they have their own kid. I want to say, my dearest mom and dad, I wish you healthy and happy and I can’t wait to share with you the feelings of being a new piggie, oh no, I mean mommy :)