My wife enjoys cooking, and she tries to involve my kid. Recently, she bought a Bourbon bear train. It comprised chocolates and biscuits - just the way my boy liked it.

My boy was participative in the process, whipping up the chocolate, scooping it to place into the moulds. My wife then made sure that all the pieces hung together and placed it in the fridge for it to freeze. Here’s their finished product:

My wife had transformed into a panda train, given his recently affinity with the pandas. We went to the local zoo to ogle at the two resident pandas last Saturday, in fact.

What struck me the most was when my son mentioned how he had 一所懸命　(issho kenmei; tried his level best) in the chocolate train-making process. I feel gratified because if he knows what he feels like to give his all, he can use this self-awareness to gauge how hard he has tried to achieve something - be it studies or co-curricular activities - in the future. I’m happy that he has gained an intuitive understanding of how he feels like when he has worked hard.