Guarded Speech Around Children

This touching passage reveals Confucius as a father—and shows that even the great teacher's interactions with his own son were brief, timely, and shaped by the same values he taught others. Chen Kang had assumed the master's son received special instruction, but Boyu reveals that Confucius taught through the same public principles. The wisdom here is that a parent's words at home shape the child's interior life, just as the Odes shape speech.